EarthDay is the BestDay

Earth Day is a special day in our family. Not necessarily because we are the most green family on the block...I mean, we try: we recycle, we try to be cognizant of energy, we try to conserve gas, etc. However, in our family April 22nd is a reason to celebrate: It is Drew’s Birthday. So – on Earth Day – I got the best present on Earth twenty two years ago. I got a little brother. I remember waking up and my mom and dad not being there – and Cindy V.V. was. I probably demanded to know where my family was – even though I knew Cindy V.V. well. As soon as she told me they had the baby in the middle of the night I wanted to know if I had a brother or a sister. I was praying for a sister – they were going to name her Dana. I got a brother. As a four year old, this rolled off my back rather quickly, and now I thank God I didn’t get a sister, for a couple of reasons. First of all, I have a rather strong personality (I know, a shocker) and I don’t think two girls would have survived in the same house. Secondly, I don’t think my dad would have survived two girls. Lastly, and most importantly, I don’t think a sister would have been able to provide me with all of the things Drew did. I have so many memories of Drew:

The first time he came home and I told the neighbors I had a brother and nobody believed me. The first time he crawled….my mom and I were watching Little House on the Prairie and he crawled over by the rocking chair in our living room. The time we went camping and everyone thought he was a girl because of his gorgeous bleach blond curls (okay, a little bit of jealousy). The first time my cousins taught him to say the F*word and I tattled and the poor kid got his mouth washed out with soap (mind you, he had no idea what he had said). I remember him crawling up to my room and forget the fact that I had a baby gate up to protect my belongings…he still managed to pull the Barbie heads off my Barbie’s by pulling their hair through the gate. I remember climbing the tree with him. We used to pull the trash container and the picnic table over to the tree and stack them and then climb up into the maple. In fact, there were times we used to do that right before bedtime with babysitters and refuse to come down. Our parents finally got us a rope ladder for the tree. Which a grown up Drew tried to use two years ago and broke (No comment). I remember doing my best to get him in trouble. Even when it meant I had to bite my own arm and tell Mom and Dad he did it. (just so you know, I don’t feel guilty….he did lots of the same stuff! And that only worked until I lost my two front teeth and got caught) I remember the first time Drew went to kindergarten. I remember spending hours in the ice rink. I hated it at the time – I still hate waiting for him after a game – but I probably gleaned something from the experience – maybe a little bit of patience? Okay, maybe not. I remember doing the Library Reading program with him at the library every summer. I remember road trips where we had to keep our hands on the ceiling of the car because we were in trouble for antagonizing each other). I also remember when Drew was older – and had his first girlfriend. I remember when he moved away when he was a junior in high school. I remember the first time he told me he loved me when we were teenagers. It was my freshman year in college – and I was really struggling to adjust and he said it at the end of phone conversation – it helped. And then I made such a big deal about it he refused to say it for the next twelve months. I remember the first time he introduced us to Nicki. She was his “friend.” We all knew better – he has always been a terrible liar. Which has served me, his sister, well. All I had to do was tell him to look Mom straight in the eyes – he couldn’t do it. He’d usually just start laughing. I remember things that I don’t have to jog as far back in my memory for – the fact that every time someone in the family is sick – he freaks out. He calls and calls – and if you are in the hospital – he will find you. How he got so mad when we didn’t call him right away when Jeff had his appendix removed. How the night we had to go into the hospital because I was having pain when I was pregnant he asked my mom, “should I come home?” How when I had Addison he stayed at the hospital all day and we finally convinced him to go home at like nine o’clock at night and how after we had her – he came back up to the hospital at midnight to see us. I remember lots more. Probably things Drew doesn’t want me to share. And since it’s his birthday I won’t. I won’t talk about the embarrassing things he has done, I won’t talk about the silly things he has done – I won’t talk about the times we’ve fought. While those things have happened – and they’ve impacted our relationship – I still say that EarthDay is the BestDay. It was the day I got my little brother.

Happy Birthday Drew. We love you.