Let's Go Hunting...

This is my big brother. It's the only year that we weren't standing side-by-side for our Easter picture. And it's kind of sad, really, because that's how we always were at that age... side-by-side. He was my partner in crime. The Mutt to my Jeff. The Lone Ranger to my Tonto. The Donnie to my Marie. Well... I'm sure you get my point.

He was my brother and also my best friend. I didn't know it back then, but he was born with a number of birth defects that made him a very sick little boy. He was in and out of the hospital a lot. Maybe that attributed to how close we were growing up, I don't know... but we really were two peas in a pod. (You just thought I was done with the euphemisms...!)

Now, I'm proud to report, he is a strappingly healthy 40-year old man with beautiful wife and a 21-year old son in college. Sadly, we don't get to share holidays together anymore due to silly things like geography, job responsibilities and schedules.

And so, we don't get to hunt Easter eggs together anymore either. But then again, that's probably a good thing for me, because he was always way better at it than I was anyway.