Brother Bear

What's Up, Brother? It's Tuesday! Tuesday! Special teams, special plays, special players... (If you know, you know. If not, look up Sketch on TikTok. My boys are OBSESSED). Ya'll... I don't know who reads this, or who even cares, but LORDT! 🫣😮‍💨This past week has tested my patience so much, I don't know where to even start. I feel like a broken record; it's always something. This past week has proven to test my patience and I'm not sure what to do to get some sanity back. Baseball season has officially begun, with at least two games per week, per team. Add in work, school, children, life, and I am spent. I try and make dinner, making sure to have something for everyone in it and nobody eats it. Or they say they want it and then barely touch it. Game days I make it early, so they eat before their games and I'm not cooking at 9:00 at night and I still end up making something at 9:00 because they need a second dinner because they're StArViNg... 😫🙄 The house is a mess at just about all times and the laundry is done as we wash uniforms. Magnus has been a handful lately; very obstinate and determined to do only what he wants to do. When he doesn't get his way, home boy is PISSED. He either gets mad and throws a fit OR he cries, no no, SOBS. And this typically happens when Ryan is at work and I am trying to get everyone ready to go somewhere. Joy! We went to a Pirate's game on Sunday with the Little League and the energy in the house leading up until it was time to leave was through the roof. The 3 were all so amped that they didn't know how to act. I get it; they're excited. But MAN! Total transparency.. when I got to the group of parents at the tailgate by the entrances, I did partake in an adult beverage, just to take the edge off for a minute. We had gotten there, everyone was safe, they were playing with their friends and we weren't leaving for 5+ more hours. And while I drank it quickly, it wore off just as quick. It was freezing, but they were troopers, more so than I. Bah. LOL. 

    After talking with the eldest, we realized that he will be home in roughly 2 1/2 weeks from college. For the whole summer. He has almost already completed his first full year of college. WHAT?!?! HOW!?!?! And Dryden will finish this year and be a SENIOR?!?!?! Life is a whirlwind. The next thing I know, the twins will be in 6th grade and Boop will be a freshman. There is so much happening in life, around us, trying to stay afloat, sane and keep everyone happy. Next thing we know, it'll be next year! Lord, make it stop for one minute. I am not ready! 

    For week three, my dedication only makes sense because his birthday is tomorrow. And he will be 40!!!! Where to begin about him? Aside from my husband, he is THE MOST important man in my life. The saying goes that, in life, you can't choose your family, but you can choose your friends. Or something like that. I get the have him as my brother AND my best friend. He is the only person who knows me, has gone through the same life I have, the same ups, downs, traumas, celebrations, events, all of it. He moved home last year from Florida after being gone for 16 years and I KNOW that whatever higher power exists knew that I NEEDED to have him closer. He is now 10 minutes down the highwee and just knowing that after every time we hang out, he won't be leaving to go back is still something I am not used to. And we still talk regularly, face time, text every day. but having him HERE now... has been food for my soul. It has been the very best year of having him around. I feel like I have laughed more, especially during game nights. He has taken some of the reigns with hosting holidays, and claims that his house is "the place to be". Yea, okkkkk. He does have more room for people and a bigger backyard and an updated kitchen. But he has a human dressed as a dog Labradoodle, and he only has Diet Coke in cans, so is it really the place to be? We are 10 months apart, so for the next 6-ish weeks we are both 40. Man, I remember when I made him a card for his 10th birthday, taping coins into the card in the shape of a 1 and zero. Maybe I should do that again? Lol. He is seriously the best person on planet Earth. He hates mornings and has RBF 80% of the time, but once you get to talk to him and break that candy shell, he is the biggest teddy bear. He is one of my biggest cheerleaders in life, he listens when I'm upset or frustrated and tells me when I'm being an ass. We regularly start our conversations with "Guess what your niece/nephew did" and proceed to commiserate over the BS that our kids have laid at our feet. He has mourned the same losses, cried similar tears, raged on about how bad it sucks being an adult and how we didn't sign up for this, we were forced into this world. (Thanks, Ken and Shari. LOL) We share murder mystery intrigue, similar tastes in music and neither like the beach. We are too much alike at time, stubborn, determined and loud. But man, I could not get through this life without him. My Brother Bear. Who I know that, no matter what life brings me and where it takes me, he will always be there. Maybe one day, even with a shovel? i kid, I kid. To my brother, Kenny... I dedicate this week's post to you. I am so damn proud of you, proud to call you my family, elated to have you closer, even more elated when we are on the same trivia team and kick all of the asses, (Add Daniel in and we are Hold The Avocado, can't be stopped, won't be stopped) annoyed that people were so excited when you moved home and were all like "I can't wait to hang out with him" and I'm like "I am the female version of him, WTF!?" But mostly, I love you and am so happy that I get the best parts of our kids lives growing up together, being there for each other and sharing all of the milestones. Natalie and the girls are the luckiest to have you, their protector, their chauffer, their voice of conscience (even if they hate it) their coach, their maid and their biggest supporter. How lucky Natalie is.. I bet he doesn't even leave pee on the seat!