Living in Neverland: Happy Birthday, Little Bro

I couldn't let this day slip past me without giving a shout out to my little bro.
(Even though I am 99.9% sure nobody in my family know about or reads my blog. haha)

He's 4 years younger than I am, so he's turning the big 32 today. :-)

We don't spend as much time together as I would like....
It's been a while (like 10+ years!) since we have lived near each other, basically since I moved away to college.

I came to San Diego, he went to Santa Cruz.

Then he lived in Portland, OR for a couple of years while preparing for med school.

In 2007 he (and his awesome girlfriend) moved to Chicago
so he could attend medical school there.

Last year he graduated med school and got his residency in Los Angeles!

So they are now back within driving distance, which makes me (and my mom) happy. I see him every couple of months now, instead of once every two years! Still not often enough, but he is almost ALWAYS working right now so, I'll take what I can get.

And yep, he's a doctor! I couldn't be more proud of him. I bawled like a baby at his graduation. I just know he is a great doctor. I have never been, and probably never will be, his patient, because he works in psych and (for now) mainly in a psych hospital environment. Right now he is working in the UCLA system, at a few different hospitals. He chose psych while working with veterans back in Chicago, and I really think he is a good fit for it. He is super smart, understanding, open minded and very chill, so I think his bedside manner is probably excellent. Even with people who think their neighbors are putting Voodoo curses on them. (Yeah, the stories we get from him are AWESOME!)

While we had plenty of fights (I used to beat the CRAP out of him until one day he was bigger than me! How did that happen??) in our youth, I know that we have a special bond. We grew up together. And I like knowing that we have so many similar memories.

My brother -

he likes music, computer games, hats, NBA basketball and his friends and family.

Also, he shares this day with our sadly missed Grandpa Jack.

They have the same birthday, and the same big heart.