Happy Birthday Thom

As is becoming my habit, I'm a few days late, but I can't forget my brother Thom! He's the brother who is exactly like me in every way! Okay, no, he's not my twin. He's actually about nine years younger. Ten for a month. But we both have summer birthdays! And we were both English majors, both are creative writers, and like fantasy. I tend to like lower fantasy, which he does too, but I think he might like some higher fantasy too. Anyway, we also both served missions, and we're both the third child. Yes, I can hear your "huh?" According to some birth order theories, there are only four possible children in every family and then it starts over. It can also start over a certain amount of time passes between births--like a lot of time. Anyway, since my parents had eight children, Thom and I are both the third child. Get it? I might even have explained this before on here. I have had to explain it on occasion.

Anyway, obviously, we have many differences, too, even aside from the boy-girl thing. He's married and has a wonderful wife and a sweet daughter and another on the way. He's got a very upbeat personality, loves to sing, and act. He even just got hired as the acting coach for the high school where he lives. Otherwise, he teaches middle grade English. So, we're both teachers, too--though he actually has a certification. Anyway, anyway, so I really love my brother Thom.

Let's see, what's one of my favorite memories? Well, going to his house over Christmas break in 2007, when he was still finishing up his degree and they lived in a tiny apartment down in Alamosa, was a good memory. We even had each other's names for the gift exchange, and he condescended to liking the aprons I made for him and his wife. I actually like them, too, but you never know with homemade things and particularly aprons for me. I had tried to make a bow tie for him, but it didn't work. I thought he looked cute in the apron anyway. He got me a couple books, one from Elder Wirthlin, who passed away recently, so that was good timing, and the other was the first in the FableHaven series which I'm continuing on now as we speak--very good series. Captivating.

I also have nice memories of Thom when he was little. He was an adorable little boy. I left home for college when he was young, like 8 or so, I think, though I bounced in and out of the house during his middle school and high school years. During that time, I remember shaving his face--yes he was quite brave. It wasn't like I was inexperienced, though. I shaved the faces of many willing young men in my ward at BYU around that time. With a women's razor even. Beat that! I also did the little braid things in Thom's hair once, as I did John's, and I might even have dyed his hair a tinge. Yes, I think I did.

Most recently, I saw him at the family reunion, which I neglected to document on the blog, for various reasons, but anyway, we had a great time. He was in charge of the Q-lympics and did a fantastic job with that. We partnered in an event of doing word puzzles and rocked the house with that one! (How could two such intelligent English major types not?) :)

Anyway, Thom is great, Thom is awesome. I hope he had a great birthday!