My Brother Nick

Today is Nick's 16th birthday.

I was 14 when Nick came home from the hospital in his little stocking. He has been everyone's favorite in our family from the day he was born.

Tonight he is celebrating his birthday at a Vivaldi Concert.

When he was a newborn, I used to lay him on my lap and play the piano. Now, he loves to play the piano, the organ, and the trombone.

When Nick was a baby, he and our dog Snickers ruled the roost. Mom and Dad would each hug a side of their king size bed and the little dog and the baby boy would spread out like starfish in the middle of the bed.

He used to love to watch Cinderella or "Gus Gus" in his room in the middle of the night. And every morning at 4am he would have "Mommy and Me" time.

My poor parents were raising 6 teenagers and a baby at the same time. Insanity.

When Nick was potty training, we were standing outside in the neighbor's yard, and I asked him, "Nick, do you need to go to the bathroom?" He replied in the affirmative and proceeded to pee on the neighbors roses.

Last week he went on his first date with the German foreign exchange student.

When he was learning his numbers, colors and abc's--his evil older brothers and sisters taught him that the sky was green and that 3 came after 7--among other "facts". We wanted to know if he would see the world differently if we taught him different colors! It was a noble experiment. Unfortunately, his kindergarten teacher set him straight before we could really see the results of our experimental teaching.

When he was 10 he wanted to see The Lord of the Rings but he wasn't 13. My mom told him that he could see the movies if he read the books. So he did.

When he came out to visit me in Virginia, he had just finished reading Gods and Generals. When we went to Gettysburg, he found Joshua Chamberlain's statue. He had just finished reading The Killer Angels. He got a little choked up and said, "He's my hero!" I think he was 13.

Nick has always been everyone's favorite. There's just something wonderful about him. We used to try and guess what he was going to be when he grew up, but frankly, he could be anything he wants.

Thanks for coming to our family Nick. We love you!