Happy Birthday, Michael

February 17 is an important day for me.  It’s my brother’s birthday!  A day to celebrate one of the strongest men I have ever known. He has a strength born of life’s experiences both good and bad.  He has our father’s strength and wisdom and our mother’s faith and optimistic way of looking at life. He is one of the only people in my life that I honestly can say that I don’t remember ever having a cross word with.  Of course, it hurts me deeply when he tells me that he had nine relatively good years before GOD “blessed” him with a sister (and a cousin) and life as he knew it was over!!  What he didn’t realize was that GOD loved me enough to give me a big brother (don’t you love the way I made it all about me???:)) who would be my protector, my co-conspirator, my hero and my friend and for the past 56 years, he has been all of those things to me.

I look at him and remember the road he has walked and feel such pride for the man he is.  I once told him a story about someone asking an American general during the Vietnam war who his greatest fighting force was.  They were expecting to hear that it was the Green Beret or the Navy Seals or another one of the specialized forces but he surprised them with the following answer, “My greatest fighting force is the soldier who almost died at the hand of the enemy and lived to fight again. They had looked the enemy in the eye and determined that he would never get them down again!” That is my brother’s story. He walked a rough road for awhile with the enemy trying to destroy him but his life verse is now “You intended to harm me, but GOD intended it for good to accomplish what is now being done, the saving of many lives.” Genesis 50:20
He comes along beside those struggling down the road he once walked and encourages them by saying “I overcame and you will too.”

And now he is living the life he has always wanted to live.  A beach bum in Mexico...okay maybe not a bum.  He just gets really cranky when the temperature drops below 65degrees and snow puts in in a state of total depression! So while I hate it when he’s so far away he has proven to me that if I need him he’ll be here as was evidenced last year when he flew home when I had some medical issues going on and he wanted to be sure I was alright.  (Of course he wanted to take me back to Mexico with him because the nurses there still wear starched white uniforms....???? )

Probably, the best way to show the man he is, is to point to his children. Bradley, Blair and Adam are three of the strongest, most loving people you will ever meet and they each have a love and respect for their dad that shines from deep within them.

So, tomorrow will be my brother’s 65th birthday. I pray that it is an amazing day filled with lots of friends, love and sunshine. He deserves it all!

I love you, Mike and will never cease thanking GOD for allowing us to share this journey.  Happy Birthday!