24 Days of Thanksgiving - Day Twenty

"The time has come," the walrus said, "to talk of other things! Of shoes and ships and sealing wax, of cabbages and kings! And why the sea is boiling hot - and whether pigs have wings."

Shoes - They keep your feet warm and dry. Two thumbs up.

Ships - I'm all for them, especially if they're of the "cruise" variety. I'd really enjoy getting to know more about that particular subject.

Sealing wax - I really have no opinion on this.

Cabbages - I can take 'em or leave 'em, really. But hooray for veggies!

Kings - I prefer a democratic society.

Why the sea is boiling hot - It's probably because the sun sinks down into it at the end of every day.

Whether pigs have wings - My guess would be, "Only if they've been drinking Red Bull."

And now, onto other "other things."

Namely, my siblings!

My brothers, during my sister's wedding.

I've already dedicated a post to my brother, Daniel, because it was his birthday on the twelfth. So if you need to read all about him, you can check out his post, here. The rest of this entry is dedicated to the other three crazies I'm delighted to call my siblings.

Let's take it from the top - namely, with Andrew, because he's the tallest.

Andrew is awesome. And that pretty much sums it up, but I'll go into greater detail anyway.

Andrew is my brother who's just younger than me in age. In spite of his youthfulness in comparison to myself, he has been taller than me for about half of my life. He's living proof that "younger" doesn't necessarily mean "shorter" - something I'm still trying to explain to my five-year-old.

Did I mention that his face is made of rubber?

Granted, all my other siblings are proof of the same thing. I guess I'm just short.

Anyway, Andrew is one of the most talented individuals I've ever met. He's very musical, although he doesn't play many instruments. He can sing, and he can pick out songs on the piano in spite of his limited training on that particular instrument. He's just got an ear for it. He's also a pretty good actor, and an incredible artist. He started drawing cartoons in high school. Every day when school let out he would hand me a wad of his latest cartoons, which I'd read on the bus ride home. They were delightfully funny. I still remember his comic strip about the streaking platypus, who got arrested for public indecency after shaving off all of his fur. And then there was the comic series about the beavers who decided to create their own country, which they named "Dam Nation." Good stuff.

Clearly, along with his artistic abilities, he's also got a great sense of humor. I literally laugh more when I'm around him than I do around anyone else. I think the first time I really realized how funny he was was when we were in London. He was 9 or 10 and I was 12. We were sitting around the table, drinking water and talking. I don't remember what he said, but I do remember laughing so hard that I spit water across the table, and possibly squirted a small quantity of it out of my nose.

Andrew "playing" with Evie (aka, letting her
squirt him with a water bottle)

Another of my fondest memories of him was when we were living in El Salvador. We had a pool in our backyard, and one day we were playing out there. We were all pretending to have imaginary friends who were playing mean tricks on us while we swam. My imaginary friend, "Fred" kept grabbing me by the leg and dragging me around the pool. Andrew announced to all of us that his imaginary friend "Snerdly" was allergic to water, and therefore would leave him alone.

About 30 minutes later, Andrew started shrieking and dunking himself in and out of the water. "Snerdly!!! Stop!!! Aaaah! Guys, Snerdly is trying to drown me!!!"

As Andrew dragged himself to the wall of the pool, I called him out. "I thought Snerdly was allergic to water!"

Andrew, with his eyes wide and frightened, turned to me and responded, "So did I!!!"

He's a quick one, that brother of mine. And as he's gotten older, he's only gotten funnier and awesomer. He's handsome, he speaks Russian, he's smart, he's fantastic with kids, and he's really a great catch. Whatever lady he decides to marry someday will be lucky indeed.

Then we have my sister, Alyssa. Growing up, she was always the pretty one. I was always completely jealous of how sweet and beautiful she was. Loving her just came naturally for everyone. People just adored her.

She even looks gorgeous when she's pregnant, underwater,
and wearing geek glasses!

I have to admit, jealousy wasn't a pretty color on me. I teased her a lot when we were kids, partly because I was jealous of her, and partly because it was easy to make her mad, and I thought it was funny. Kids can be mean, and I was no exception.

But I adored her at the same time. I hope she realized that at the time, and if not, I hope she realizes it now. She's my only sister, and I love her more than words can express.

My sister is every bit as fun and hilarious as my brothers, too. She can certainly hold her own. On top of that, she's smart, beautiful, talented, and a fantastic mom. She just had a baby back in September, and already I think she's a better mother than I am.

Chillin' like a couple of first-class citizens.

When she was a teenager, she had some health issues that led me to be concerned that she might have troubles with infertility when she grew up. I was completely distraught at the thought, because even then I knew that she was going to be a fantastic mom. The idea that she might have a hard time having kids was not an idea that I was willing to accept. So I prayed that she would be able to have kids.

And my prayers were answered! My adorable nephew, Jack, came along without any kind of undue tribulation. Instead, I'm the one who ended up with infertility problems. Go figure! But I would rather it was me than her anyway, so I figure it all worked out.

And with the birth of Lyssa's baby boy, she's already proving what I knew all along - that she had all the makings of an incredible mom. Alyssa is just naturally gifted in all the best "mom" qualities. The most important one, to me, is her gift for empathy. She always knows exactly how people are feeling, and how best to help them. Her heart goes out to anyone and everyone who's struggling. She truly has a heart of gold.

Lyssa, Lewis and Jack dressed as the Rubbles for Halloween

I suppose that I ought to mention her husband, Lewis, while I'm at it. He's every bit as fun and goofy as my other brothers, so he fits into our family pretty perfectly. He clearly worships my little sister, so that makes him a good guy in my book. On top of that, he's great with kids. And I'm not just talking about his son. He's an elementary school teacher! There aren't a whole lot of men who have the constitution to work with children all day, every day. But Lewis does it, and he does it well. He's an incredible husband to my little sis, and I'm grateful they found each other.

Next in line comes Daniel, but as I've already dedicated an entire post to him, I'll just say this and be done: Daniel is pretty much one of my favorite people in the entire world. I love that guy so much!

The baby of the family is Joseph. He's eleven. Since I'm twenty-nine, that shows what a huge age gap there is between the two of us. To be honest, when he was a baby, a lot of people assumed that I was his mom. I was almost 18 when he was born, so it was a logical conclusion.

So... yeah. This picture cracks me up. :)

Unfortunately, he was born the summer right before I left for college. It's not unfortunate that he was born - it's fantastic, because our family wasn't complete without him! - it's unfortunate because I only got a few months with him before I left home.

He was the sweetest, snuggliest baby. I still remember the Sunday before I left for college. He was being fussy, so Mom let me take him out into the hall. He was wearing these white footie pajamas with ducks or something on them, and a matching hat with bunny-ear thingies. He just curled up on my shoulder like a little kidney bean and calmed right down. I didn't want to give him up, though, so I just kept pacing up and down the hallways with him, snuggling him, and wishing I didn't have to leave him behind when I left for college. I knew I was going to miss seeing him grow up, and it pretty much broke my heart.

He was a ridiculously cute little kid, too. He had these huge blue eyes, soft blond hair that stood straight up, and chubby cheeks. He totally could have done Gerber commercials. Cutest kid in the world.

Now, of course, Joseph is eleven years old. He's in middle school, and in a couple of years he'll hit puberty and leave childhood far behind. And then I'll officially be the shortest person in the family.

For now, though, I can still call him my baby brother without making him mad. ;) And I'm so grateful that he came along, even though I had to miss so much of his growing-up years.

Joseph and Evie watching a movie together

For one thing, he's only six years older than Evie. So whenever we go visit my family, Evie has someone relatively close to her own age to play with. And she completely adores her uncle Joseph. He's her very favorite. He's a great sport about playing with her, too. Even when she's getting on his nerves, and he's tired of playing, he's still super sweet to her.

And one of my favorite Joseph stories comes from around the time when Evie was born.

Mom was trying to get Joseph excited about the prospect of becoming an uncle. She told him I was about to have the baby, and... he started to cry! My mom asked him what was wrong, and he said he didn't want to be an uncle. Eventually she figured out that he had it in his mind that, because his uncles were all grown-ups, when Evie was born he would turn "old" overnight!

Poor kid.

Joseph is a funny kid, who's talented, sweet, and great at science. And he introduced me to Phineas and Ferb, so I'll always be grateful for that. ;) He's one of the greatest kids in the world, and I can't wait to see what an incredible man he'll grow up to be.

I've truly been blessed when it comes to my family. My siblings are the best in the world. I truly wouldn't trade them for anyone. Each one of them holds a special place in my heart, and I'm so grateful that they'll be part of my family forever. God really must love me, to have blessed me with the brothers and sister that I have.