Happy birthday baby brother!

This is a picture of the two of us together on an underwater adventure. It appears that Keith is about to get attacked by some weird fish creature.
"Keith - watch out!"

My baby brother turns 27 today and as I sit here thinking of the two of us aging I reminisce about our childhood together. I swear I can remember going to see him in the hospital when he was born and looking at a room full of babies and being sad over the cries of the newborns and thinking someone was hurting my new baby brother. I would have been two years old at the time and no one believes that I could remember that.

Who knew that when my parents brought Keith home they would be giving me my own personal sidekick? I immediately took advantage of him. I blamed numerous accidents and all my wrong doings on him. I used his toys, I drank his milk and I used him as a portable punching bag. He was always “it” when playing hide-n-seek. I was a wicked sibling. I regret my awful behavior and I’m amazed at how, through all my abuse, Keith managed to remain a kind, easy going, and likable individual.

I think he eventually threw up after running so hard to get that kite in the air.

Keith and I would pretend to be disc jockeys. We would tape ourselves impersonating disc jockeys, playing music and telling jokes. I still have a tape with Keith trying to coax me into playing disc jockeys with him and I’m at that age when I felt I was maybe too old to be playing with my little brother. I eventually go along with Keith and his plea for me to join him, but I sing a poorly improvised song about how much he annoys me.

Keith and I would perform skits, impersonating cast members from Saturday Night Live.

Keith is funnier than me and always has been in my opinion. He is goofy and wild. We are complete opposites in many ways but have similar interests in music, books and movies. Keith is brilliant and quick witted. He could have been a banker the way he would hoard his money like an old miser. On the rare occasion we would get an allowance Keith would save his money while I was busy paying him back for the money I borrowed off of him from two weeks prior. He was the same way with Halloween candy. He would stash it away like a squirrel preparing for winter. I would break into his stash and steal some of his candy from the pockets of our matching Transformer bed tents as my candy had long ago been eaten.

Stay away from my candy!

Once, while Keith sat watching cartoons on a channel that was barely visible through the static, a bat landed on his head. Another time Keith came home from school to an empty house only to find a squirrel eating something on our kitchen counter. The squirrel looked at him and Keith stared back at the squirrel. There was a moment of silence as the two stood there feeling each other out, then the squirrel leapt into action and charged for Keith. Keith managed to escape the wrath of that rodent by running outside.

Yes, my brother is a fantastic and interesting person and I’m glad to say that to this day, despite all that I’ve done to him, he still likes me.

I think my brother or I just farted in this photo and Jessica is too embarrassed to be next to us.

I have a wonderful family. I feel truly blessed to have them in my life and to be able to get along with them so well. Keith lives in Las Vegas and due to his job is limited in his ability to come home to see us. We miss you dearly Keith and we hope you had a fantastic birthday.

Love ya,
K