My brother's in town!



Eric & I two years ago!

 I'm so excited my brother Eric is in town ... it's been 2 years (I can't believe it!) since he's been back in KC. He's been living in Bend, OR for the last 15ish or more years (I lose count in my old age) and gets back here once in a while. The cool thing about this visit is not only is he here but more of how he got here! Back in November, one of the radio stations was doing a "Home for the Holidays" contest ... send in a letter/email of why they should fly your loved one "Home for the Holidays" ... well, after hearing one of the more emotional stories one morning on the way to work .... I put my own emotions to the test and sent off an email. Lo and behold a few weeks later, I received a call on the way to work .... and ... the good news was ... they were flying Eric "Home for the Holidays"! I couldn't believe it ... I had to pull over ... and the news came on Eric's birthday! Of course, I had called him the day before to say Happy Birthday and now had an even better reason to call him again!

So ... Eric arrived in KC last Thursday and is here until this Friday ... it's been great ... just like he never left! We had a big family day @ my Dad's Sunday (lots of football, food, beverages and the like) ... lots of old family stories and belly laughs ... the good stuff!

Yesterday I took the day off and Eric & I just got to hang ... had a blast and more importantly just caught up on life in general. The best part (so far) was last night when we (my fam & Eric) were watching old home videos (my dad took all his big super 8 tapes & had them converted to DVDs for all of us) from pretty much my birth until 2nd grade or so and had of course both my brothers and sister too. While I was watching all of this ... of course it brought back amazing memories of my mom ... but the part I loved the most was really seeing how much my mom & dad loved us. Most of the videos were around birthdays & holidays and for every occasion, my mom or dad was up close with me or Eric or Adam or Emily ... I could just "see" how much love, compassion & excitement they had for each of us. What that showed me is that I want to carry on that same love, compassion & excitement in my family ... for my husband, Torie and Hannah & Hank. Life is short and it's really about the simple things and being together. I'm so blessed to have such an amazing husband and two amazing kids who are healthy & happy.