My little brother was born on February 3rd, 1995. My wonderful Grandma Gerry visited soon after. One day during her visit she and I made Valentine’s Day sugar cookies – I’m sure I conducted the sprinkle situation while sitting on the counter and Grandma did everything else. Sometime during all of this I started to ask for my dolly. Grandma brought me several dolls but none of them were what I wanted. Turns out, at 3 years old I decided Joey was my doll.
That’s probably the earliest story I have about me and Joey. I can not a imagine my childhood without my blonde hair, blue eyed partner in crime and best friend.
One time we wrestled in the fancy living room and some how tore an extra large mirror off the wall. One time Joey broke/dislocated his pinky while on the trampoline (of course, no parents at home) and I didn’t believe him until I saw it was in the shape of a Z… and then he touched it and it snapped back into place, that was a weird day. One time my brother hid under my bed and grabbed my leg and…. he almost died…. because I could have killed him. One time we made a video of us singing Adele while on a road trip and. It. was. Horrendous.
One time we were about to embark on one of our hundreds of 8+ hour car ride to the great tundra of North Dakota and I was very excited because of all the fun I anticipated, and I said, “In my 19 years of life, I’ve decided most inside jokes are born on car rides.” in which Joey responded, “You’re 19??” (My birthday was two months prior.) One time I taught my brother to drive when he was 13 and my parents were out of town. One time we went to Alaska on a family vacation and played hundreds of hands of our favorite card game without getting bored (again, while in the car….a theme) and laughed so hard we almost peed everyday. One time my brother came over to my apartment unannounced and ate my food and did his laundry and fell asleep in my bed. One time I paid for Joey’s first tattoo.
One time I baptized my little brother.
With three and a half years of separation, I’m just old enough to have 97% of the bones in my body be maternal and young enough to be in the same stage of life as my brother. Joey came to WKU as I entered my senior year and he entered college as most do, a reckless child who makes themselves a God. I will not tell Joey’s entire story (despite how spectacular it is) but assure you, it went down hill very quickly. But, God has an absolutely astounding way of bringing his children close, whether they know what’s happening or not. For the past year, my brother has grown from a little boy trying to make the world think he’s the coolest man there is, to a man who knows that “cool” is not in God’s vocabulary. He is learning how to “struggle well” and that being a Christian doesn’t mean hard things do not happen to you. Joey will probably always be the best dressed 5′ 6-and-proud” guy I know, but in my opinion his humility and love for other shines so bright he could wear an adult pajama onesy and I would still want to be him.
Last Sunday, we stood in the waters of new life and celebrated the work of God’s hand.
I leave for the WR in 43 days and couldn’t ask for a greater gift and honor than being the first to hug my little brother, not only as my little brother by blood, but my little brother in Christ.
