Life, Love & the Pursuit of Chocolate...: Oh brother, where art thou?

First a brother, then a bother, now a friend. ~ Unknown

Hey guess what...

My little brother is 23 today. Okay, well so he's maybe not physically my "little" brother....(well, that may not actually be true for long if my nightly peanut butter consumption rate does not taper off soon). But that's neither here nor there.

Let's get back to the subject. My "little" brother is celebrating his birthday today. I have to say, as far as baby brothers go, I have a pretty good one.

I couldn't resist....

I'll be honest with you, there are times when this kid annoys me so much, I want to poke his squinty little eyes out! But for whatever reason, I cannot stay mad at this boy, even when he really, really deserves it. Maybe it's because he's the only brother I have. Maybe it's because he can talk his way out of anything. Maybe it's because he knows me too well. Maybe it's all three.

A few years ago my brother moved up to Lexington to finish school at UK and it has been quite interesting living in the same city. On the one hand, it's great having someone to grab a drink with and who can come by and watch my dog if I am going to be out of town. But on the other hand....here's a couple of the "not so great" things I have had to deal with since he has moved here:

-A garage full of gross "boy" furniture that not even the freaks on craigs list will take off my hands. Seriously, it's been, what, 10 months now? I would love to have my garage back to myself so I can park my car in it. Especially since the car has been broken in to.
-A screaming match at midnight the day my brother was leaving for a "camping trip" on why I wouldn't let him borrow my $350 camera. (Later found out the camping trip was actually Bonaroo....good call on my part).
-Driving him to UK Hospital to get pins put in his hand after he broke it in a bar fight. I will spare you all the messy details of this, but it involves taking a day off work, driving and waiting during the surgery, asking him repeatedly to stop asking the nurse for a joint post-op, all while I was unknowingly coming down with the flu.
-About 4 or 5 calls to come unlock his car for him because he had locked the keys in the car (yeah, it was seriously at the point where we had a spare key made for me simply for this purpose).
-Giving up all my monday evenings (and quite a few sundays) during the 2010-2011 fall football season because Zach was without cable at the time.

You get the gist....

So all that said, here we are, June 16, and my brother is nowhere to be found in Lexington. He is currently staying with my sister and her husband in Atlanta while he does a summer internship. And guess what....

I miss him.

I miss my baby brother. And Sawyer misses his Uncle Zach. But my little brother is busy being a grown up and making us all very proud this summer....and somehow my life is slightly more predictable without him here. I do not have to pause for a second when I get a phone call or a text from him to think "I wonder what this is gonna be about..." But who likes predictability anyways?

Uncle Zach...

So on this here 23rd birthday dear brother, let me say...I am glad to have you as a brother and very proud to see the great man you are becoming. I am happy to be stuck in the middle (of all the Lorenzen kiddos) with you...wouldn't have it any other way.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY!!!!!!!!