Happy Belated Birthday Allen!

From Will:

His birthday was on the 20th but I haven't had time to call him. Well, I'm not sure when the best time to call him is, or even if the number I have for him is the right one. That's sad isn't it? Allen, or "leny" as we used to call him, is my oldest brother and I know so little about what's going on in his life right now. We do keep in contact some. Mostly via emails we forward.

My Mom and Dad help keep me up to date about some of the things he and his family are up to. Dad made sure to let me know about Allen's newest car and all it's bells and whistles for example. Honestly, I don't know what they tell him, I don't do anything; but I like the idea that they keep him up to date on me too. I did tag an email to his lovely wife to give him my birthday blessing a few days before his birthday, but traditionally we call each other on our birthdays and we -no I, missed it this year. I'll have to remedy that soon.

In the mean time, I thought I might use this post to make up for some of what we miss.

The best thing; The very Best Thing, about growing up with Allen as my oldest brother: He included me. Seriously, Allen is 5 years older than me and when you're kids, that's a lot! Most of the kids his age didn't want their little brothers hanging around but Allen made a point to try to include me. To be sure, there Where times he didn't want me around, but there were a number of times I remember him presenting a case to my parents to let me go off to some event or other when they were ... uh, doubtful of the wisdom of letting me attend.
From a parents point of view I don't know if it was wise to let me go or not, but from a little brother's point of view, it was Way Too Cool to be included in what the "big kids" were doing. Thirty years later and it's still too cool.

We were very different people way back then. Like the kids no longer able to go back to Narnia we have different priorities and different jobs to do. We are no longer trying to conquer the world, just keep our small part of it from blowing itself into pieces too small to sift. We take a minute to wonder what our kids world will be like when they reach our age. We wonder how to keep them from making our mistakes and hoping they will have some of the great memories of their youth to sustain them through the hard times like I do of mine.

There is no doubt that my brothers and I are only still alive by the grace of God and the perseverance of my parents; but...the stories we get to tell!

Happy Birthday Allen. My present to you: I'm not going to tell some of those stories!
...for now!(insert maniacal laughter here!)

And May the Lord Your God Bless You and Keep You and Give You Peace!
Will