Happy Birthday!

I almost wasn't going to post this, but it was so enjoyed by giver and receiver I thought I should.  My darling baby brother turned 30 yesterday.  YES - that means I am a "thirtysomething."........  For his b-day I was trying to think of something nice, thoughtful, cute, clever.....  What I came up with turned out to be just as much of a gift for him as it was for me.  I took a piece of paper and using my paper cutter neatly sliced it up into 30 pieces (half length-wise then 15 cuts).  I wrote a memory on each piece - put them in a ziploc and tucked them into his card.  I really had the best time doing this.  I dreamt it up some sleepless night probably 2 weeks before Nick's birthday, so I had a few ideas in mind before pen actually hit paper, but I was shocked at the memories that came out of the pen the actual day I sat down to do this.  Things I hadn't thought of for YEARS!  For instance... I was struck by this memory of Nick and me receiving this beautiful pop-up book for Christmas from someone our dad worked with.  We were probably 5 and 7.  It was a shared gift.  We begged to differ.  I remember we fought over that thing like it was Hungry Hungry Hippos or something.   Memories like that are strangely so precious.  I love my brother so much - we are busy in our daily lives right now, but how lucky are we to go through life with someone (and for me the only one) with such similar genetics - such similar life experiences (until we fly the nest)?  At first I thought I should buy him a new shirt or tie for work for his big day.  I'm so glad for my insomnia........  I loved the experience probably more than he did, though he called me to assure me he loved it as well.