Day 03: A photo that makes you happy.

Like I said, I am not following the rules very well with this photo challenge, but it is close. 

This one is perfect for this week because the pictures that make me happy are the ones of my siblings and one of them celebrated a very special birthday!  (insert sentimental awwwwwww)

Now many of you already know about my lovely sister Kristen, as not only do I mention her frequently because we live together and work together and act the same and talk alike and are eerily close…. but also because she use to blog.  Apparently though school is more important. Whatev. 

Pictures of my sister make me very happy, and even though there is a small gap in our pictures from when I moved away from school, we have plenty of great pictures from when we were younger that make me smile like this very sweet one…..

 ...or this awkwardly cute one....

……to pictures from more recently like the ever popular "face to face pose for the camera" picture…..

...to this where she was the maid of honor at our wedding....

These pictures make me feel extremely lucky to have such a special & unique relationship with my sister and to have had these past few years to spend together.

However, what you may not be aware of is I also have two younger brothers.  Matt who turned 21 yesterday and Alec who turned 18 earlier this month.  (That makes me feel so f’n old.) They moved down south with their dad (my biological father) and their mom (my step mom) when I was in High School, so about 15 years ago. Sad.   Unlike my sister who I have a very very close relationship too, my brothers have fallen on the opposite side of the spectrum as due to not only the distance between us but also the even bigger gap in age, I have not formed relationships as close as I would like with them.  I have not been a part of SO many things in their life like watching them at sports, sharing holidays, taking them to concerts, seeing graduations, and now I can add buying my brother his first drink to that list of things I have missed out on. Sigh.   As the oldest sibling this is kind of heartbreaking.   The last time I saw my brothers was in 2006 when T & I got married.  Before that was 2002.  Both times they were just kids….and now; well my brothers are young men. WTF?  WHEN DID THAT HAPPEN?!   (Please excuse me while I cry at my desk at the thought of my wee little brothers all grown up! Breathe Jenn, breathe.)

Honestly, even though I have missed them terribly over the years it really hasn’t been an issue as what does a 26 year old have in common with a 16 year old and a 13 year old. Nothing really.  We talked and it was nice, but we were, and still are, in different places.  But now that we are all getting older (some more than others *cough cough*), it is apparent that all 3 of us wish we could spend more time together. 

Unlike the plethora of pictures I have with K., I have only a few pictures of me and my brothers since we have been apart from each other for so long.  So, of course, the pictures I do have I cherish and make me extremely happy.

This one was taken back in 2000/2001ish.  This is how I see my brothers in my head.  Just little kids.  It can be hard for me to wrap my brain around the fact that they are grown up now.  But this picture does make me soooo happy.

And then this picture, which was taken at our wedding in 2006.  There were SO many reasons I was happy on this day….and to have my brothers there to be a part of it just was that extra icing on top of an already wonderful cake!

Here is my brother Matt and I dancing….Alec being 13 of course didn’t feel like dancing which was cute.  Matt, he is like me and will act goofy whenever!

Here is a picture I got of my brothers a year ago.

Anyways, these pictures make me VERY happy.  They make me smile.  They make me laugh.  They make me tear up.   They make me think about the past.  They make me look forward to the future.  And no matter what level of relationship we have, they make me thankful to have such 3 special siblings in my life that I love dearly.