Happy Birthday, Alan

My big brother is 48 today! I look back on previous birthday posts to make sure I get the ages right (easier than math) and it struck me how lucky I am that my brother is good people.

Last year I wrote he was “utterly convinced about right and wrong,” and only reading it this year did I realize that also describes me. Two siblings with Convictions could be a recipe for disaster, but he has a Harris/Walz yard sign. I remember how upset he got hearing about Matthew Shepard long ago. He’s never liked cops.

We fundamentally agree, because we’re fundamentally the same–same parents, same memories, same genetics. He remembers what made me spit my milk out at dinner 35 years ago, I remember what upset him in our 20s. There are jokes online about “the mortifying ordeal of being known” and let me tell you, that is a sibling relationship in a nutshell. I’m just thankful to be known by a good person, who loves me, whom I love. Happy birthday!