this kid...

...i've called him kid for a very long time.
(i call all the littler siblings that)
i also call him:
joe-joe,
giuseppe,
but most of all, joey.
my joey.
its true.
till very recently i was the only one to call him that.
its my name for him.
for my baby brother.

(last april in san francisco)

today he celebrates his 19th year of life.
today i celebrate his 19 years of life.

(april 09, seeing Wicked.)

he is my broadway brother.
he is the one that will go to the opera with me.
and enjoy it.
he is the one that loves musicals.
loves the symphony....
....loves culture.

(his favorite place on earth: Monterey, CA)

i remember the day he was born as if it was yesterday.

i thought he killed my mother. i had never seen so much blood. 

had never seen her cry so.

i hated him from the start.

he also yelled so much. i couldn't understand it.

he was so tiny, but so loud.

(we had a brother sister date last year before i moved here in Scranton, Pa, seeing all the The Office hot spots. it was a great day)

he became the best little present ever.

i grew out of my hatred within days.

abi and i fought over doting on him.

he was all boy but would let us dress him up,

and he'd play barbies with us.

he lived in his ninja suit. 

(hours after sadie was born, last june. he's such a great uncle)

i cut his finger off just before he turned 2. 

i hid outside for hours thinking mom and dad would kill me.

somehow doctors sewed it back on.

but its still deformed. however, now its a war wound and he's called

"joe the nine."*

i'm still sorry, brother, about that....

(Christmas Village, this past Dec)

i've always felt joey and i are so similar.

sharing a love of sport and competition and demolishing opponents.

literally, the boy would laugh every time he'd tackle the other team in his football games. i'm not kidding, we have HOURS of footage of him just giggling after a massive hit.

the kid is fearless. i've never known where that comes from.

for my timidness, he is brave.

(at Christmas village again. we were "sick" of the couples we were with, so we decided to pretend we were a couple too....hahaha)

he's always been to mature for his age. 

holding a full on intelligent conversation with adults when he was four.

(this photo is funny because he loves the sparkling grape juice bottle. in this family we have a thing for that stuff. we pretend its wine. we pretend its what gets us all loony. truth is, no one in this family needs any sort of alcohol to be a silly nilly. this is a classic joey face too.)

we share a love for awkward strange movies.

we share a love for traveling, back packing, road trips.

we share (with our father) an insane sentimentality that often produces irrevocably strong loyal bonds of love, often causes extreme pain and sadness when something like moving across the ocean is in play, or even something as simple as moving down the hall a bit further.

we share a love for helping others but also for feeling completely inadequate to do so.

o brother. little brother. for all the ways you show me you care and love me i'm lost to know how to convey to you what you mean to me. i never knew the little boy dad placed into my scared arms would grow to be someone i'd call my friend. i love our talks. i love your heart. i love your laugh. i miss watching NCAA games with you. i miss watching movies with you. i miss you letting me sleep on your bed while you sleep on the floor. i miss receiving hand written notes i can't understand because you, like me, inherited dad's terrible writing. i miss your typed notes of encouragement. i'm so proud to be your sister. i'm so proud of who you are becoming. i love who you are.

Joseph: God will increase

Asher: happiness/fortunate/blessed

....brother, you are the increase from God of blessing and happiness into my life. you are what your name means. not only for me, but for all who know you. what a prophetic naming!

you are a miracle. you should not have been. doctors said it wasn't possible. but the prayers of mom and dad refused to give up on a dream of having their own little boy...and just when it was almost too late, a miracle. God sent you from Heaven to mom's womb...and as long as i live i will never forget the joy on their faces as they told abi and me about you. tears of joy streamed down their faces. tears of joy slide down my own face as well, right now. 

you are my joey. today is your day. and i love you. 

ooo happy of happiest birthdays to you!

*if you don't get that, you obviously have not read Lord of the Rings, nor care for Frodo...