9/365

Today I remember.

I remember when mom went into labor with Taylor. I was 5 and my bangs were so crooked when I showed up at the hospital to see my baby brother for the first time. My dad had curled my hair that day.

I remember when Taylor and I shared a bedroom in the gold house on Main Street. We shared the red daybed. The comforter was covered in red, blue, and green circles, squares, and triangles. Being the superior age, I occupied the 'big bed', and he settled for the pull-out trundle bed underneath. But sometimes he'd end up in the big bed with me.

I remember sitting in the backseat of my parents Volvo with Taylor on a vacation we took to New Mexico. I was 12 or so. He pinched my arm, poked my leg, and invaded my personal bubble for about 8 hours straight.

I remember the time I was babysitting Taylor and he blindside-tackled me in the living room. Although he weighed 50 pounds less than me at the time, he could still pull my arm behind my back until I was in tears. At which point, I threatened to call Santa Claus (because "mom & dad gave me the number before they left..") and reported Taylor's bad behavior.

I also remember 2 nights before my wedding when my brother told me that he and his girlfriend were going to have a baby. That night was one of the scariest, most emotional, and unbelievably beautiful moments I have ever shared with a human being.

And I remember how this year at Christmas, cutting above all the holiday greetings and small talk was a little girl's voice saying "dada, dada, dada!" and throwing her arms in the air. A little girl who has my brother's brown eyes and lips and hair.

My point is this. When you're changing your little brother's diaper and helping him tie his shoes in the morning before school, you don't really believe he'll ever grow up and get married. But he will. And he does. And one day you hear this beautiful girl's voice on the other end of the phone talking about how they're going to be a family. And how she's going to be his wife. And you can't believe that she's talking about the same boy who used to love Thomas the Tank Engine.

I will always remember this day. The day my brother asked Lauren Whitney Morris to be his wife. The day I got a sister.