Graphic by MLL

My brother will be here today!!!!!!! I am so excited! Right now he is stationed on the USS Abraham Lincoln in Washington. He will be here for a little over a week. I know the time is going to go by way too fast but for now I am just going to enjoy having my little brother home! I don't know if I have blogged much about Gilly, he is the most awesome brother anyone could ask for. Well, to be honest when he was younger he was a major pain in the ass, and as a teenager he was even worse but even when he was pissing me off he had his moments where he was just so sweet. I don't know of many teenage boys who would hug and kiss their old married sister in front of all their friends. When Gilly went into the Navy we were so very proud but at the same time it was so hard to watch him get on the plane. I wrote him almost every day while he was in boot camp, he has always been strong willed, always questioning authority, so I just knew boot camp was hell for him. His letters home were hard to read at first, he hated it so much.

When he came home the change in him was amazing, somehow towards the end something just clicked for him and he actually appreciated what he went through in boot camp. Within a year he was a petty officer. We are all so very proud of him and the only hard part is that we miss him so much! Shortly after his visit here he will be going overseas. Of course I am proud that he is serving our country but if I am honest I am scared out of my mind. I worry about him so much, in my mind he is always the cool little kid with an earring and spiked hair who would go with me to parties at my friends house and make everyone laugh, the annoying teenager who would get pissed off at me because I wouldn't buy him and his friends beer, the scared 18 year old who cried as he boarded the plane on his way to bootcamp surrounded by his family and tons of his friends.

This November Gil will be turning 21, hard to believe! He will be spending his birthday away from his family and friends in another country far from home. I get sad just thinking of it. But for the next week or so he is ours and I plan to enjoy every single minute!