Happy Birthday to my Brother Mark

Birthdays are good for you. Statistics show that the people who have the most live the longest. ~Larry Lorenzoni



Happy Birthday Mark



Happy Birthday Mark!

Mark is *cough *cough years old today!

I want to share three Mark stories from his very early years.

ONE
Looking up at our Mother and asking her a question:
“What makes you put those cookies up so-o-o high?”



TWO
We had a bunch of cows that lived near our house. It was not until he finally asked my Dad the question that his fascination with the animals came to light. When they mooed they really did sound like they were calling his name...Maaahhh! Maaahhh! He would run to the cow fence and look at the cows. Finally he asked my Dad: “What do they want with me? They call and call but when I go out there they just (Mark makes a staring cow face at my Dad) look at me and won’t talk.








THREE
If my Mother was baking cookies at night she heard his little voice rise from the back bedroom. “What’s that smell I’m a smellin?” My parents would try and open a coke at night. They went as far as holding a dish towel over the bottle to muffle the sound. As soon as the lid was popped my parents would hear that little voice: “What’s that sound I’m a hearin?”



I have so many wonderful memories of my brother and me growing up together. Mark was a hoot! We really had a lot of fun. I missed him when he went away to VFMA; because that was the first time we were ever separated. There has never been another person who could make me laugh like my brother could.


Valley Forge Military Academy

If anything was wrong with my cat Nugget I knew who to go after first…. I walked in on my cat trying to walk with scotch tape balled up under each paw. She was shaking her feet like crazy trying to get it off. On another day I walked in on Nugget doing the strangest thing with her tongue… Maaaaaark??? What is that behind your back? Let me see!
It was a bottle of this.



Later at dinner I poured half the bottle on his food. He never even batted an eye and ate all his dinner as if nothing was amiss… grrrr……

He scared the dickens out of me one day when he dressed himself in this.
(over his clothes)
Then he went out and scared the rest of the neighborhood… Mark was the tin man. He even walked like an alien as his friends hid behind trees and illuminated him with flashlights off and on.

We walked to the bus stop together, rode our bikes, and went camping and fishing, and countless things that would make this post too long…

Our childhood went by so fast.

Mark went here.

I went here.


We did not see each other as much as we would have liked through the years but he was never far from my heart. He is retired from the Coast Guard now and I am proud of him. He is a wonderful man and I love him with all of my heart. When we do see each other it feels like we were never apart. We share a special bond that I cherish.

Mark?
Mark?
Mark?
I love you!

You know you are getting older when:

- You know you're getting old when your semi-annual erection becomes an annual semi-erection!
- You wake up, looking like your driver's license picture.
- It takes two tries to get up from the couch.
- Your idea of a night out is sitting on the patio.
- Happy hour is a nap.
- Your idea of weight lifting is standing up.
- It takes longer to rest than it did to get tired.
- You give up all your bad habits and you still don't feel good.
- It's harder and harder for sexual harassment charges to stick.
- If you've never smoked, you can start now and it won't have time to hurt you.
- Your secrets are safe with your friends because they can't remember them either.
- Your joints are more accurate than the National Weather Service.
- Your new easy chair has more options than your car.
- You begin every other sentence with, "Nowadays..."
- You run out of breath walking DOWN a flight of stairs.
- You come to the conclusion that your worst enemy is gravity.
- Your childhood toys are now in a museum.
- The car that you bought brand new becomes an antique.
- Your back goes out more than you do.
- You quit trying to hold your stomach in, no matter who walks into the room.
- Your best friend is dating someone half their age and isn't breaking any laws.
- You constantly talk about the price of gasoline.
- You no longer think of speed limits as a challenge.
- The end of your tie doesn't come anywhere near the top of your pants.
- You know what the word "equity" means.
- You talk about "good grass" and you're referring to someone's lawn.
- You get into a heated argument about pension plans.
- You got cable for the weather channel.
- You feel like the morning after, and you haven't been anywhere.
- Your mind makes contracts your body can't keep.
- You look forward to a dull evening.
- Your knees buckle and your belt won't.
- You finally got your head together, now your body is falling apart.
- You don't remember being absent minded.
-Your friends marry and divorce instead of hook up and break up.
-You go to the drug store for ibuprofen and antacids, not condoms and pregnancy tests.
-Growing old is a question of mind over matter. Provided you don’t mind it really doesn’t matter.

-You read this entire list looking desperately for one sentence that doesn't apply to you

Huge Hugs
I Love you babe!