Happy Birthday, Josh!

My big brother Josh was born on September 11. Yep, that's right. The day of havoc and chaos...there is a slight possibility that he requested to be born that day. :) The infamous 9/11 was his 18th birthday, and so coincidentally the day that he had to sign up for the selective service. I always remember that about that day.

I have always looked up to my brother. He's been my hero since I was old enough to walk, and probably before then. He was also my best friend the entire time we were growing up. I think that part of that comes from moving a lot when we were younger (I had gone to 5 different schools by the time I was in 5th grade). And part of it comes just from being so close in age. All I know is that I always wanted to be just like him.

I think he was part of the reason I always seemed to have closer guy friends than girl friends in high school. He was also the reason I had a ninja turtles birthday party when I was 5, tried skiing, loved the movie Heavyweights, played the violin, joined the debate, tennis and soccer teams, listened to Drop Kick Murphys (and all that came of that), dated my first real boyfriend, took the ACT 4 times, went to Girl's State (although they almost didn't let me in when they found out I was the sister of the Josh Jackson), ran for student council (although we both lost - and so did my sister) and the reason that I love Star Wars better than Lord of the Rings to this day (which is a bit of a sore point between Landon and myself, if you want to know the truth). He's also the reason that I expect so much of myself and always try to be smart and fun and have a lot of friends.

In short, my brother made me who I am today.

The past few years, we've had some bumps and forks along our life roads. I got married, graduated, and started working full-time in Utah, and he attended 5 different universities in 3 years. We haven't seen each other much, talked much, or been very close. Pathetically, I started crying in Wal*Mart when we were trying to find him a birthday present.

I used to always know just what he'd want...but recently, it seems like I don't have a clue who he is. Luckily, he's finally landed in our backyard, and we're so happy to have him here!

So Happy Birthday, Josh! We love you and hope we can hang out again soon!