All About Stink

Today is my brother's birthday.  He's FINALLY 30.  I don't mean it in the snarky....  Ok, I totally mean it in a snarky, what-took-him-so-long way.  I mean I've been in my thirties for a few years and it's about time he joined me, my husband, his wife (Stink's not my husband's) and a bunch of our joint friends at the "cool table."

Of course when we were all in our twenties I'm sure we thought that was cool and I'm sure forty will have a similar "cool kids" thing, but for now it's the thirties...   I digress.

But here's the thing I don't get.  I feel older today.  I have no clue how that happened, but seriously I woke up with a few extra aches and pains, grey hairs, and a little more hard of hearing than yesterday (I'm almost positive it isn't from when I turned my headphones up so loud to drown out my kids hollering like howler monkeys, but who knows... and sorry to any howler monkeys I might have offended.)  Isn't it bad enough that I get older 3 times a year already (once on my birthday, once on each kid's b'days)???

But today, as I was driving home from Party City with a Star Wars balloon attacking me from the backseat, I realized that I was in fact getting older.  I should have been clued in sooner, but apparently I have a thick head.

Case in point; earlier this week at dinner with my mom, husband and kids; my husband says that he has to get more aggressive about something work-related, but I can't tell you what exactly though because as he says it a cheer from my high school days pops into my head so he gets tuned out... Or at least I thought it was in my head, but apparently my filter (you know the one between my brain and mouth) failed miserably because I was doing the "Be Aggressive, B-E Aggressive, B-E-A-G-G-R-E-S-S-I-V-E!" out loud.  Sad thing is I wasn't even the slightest bit embarrassed by my lack of cheering talent.  I was just THRILLED that I remembered it from over 15 years ago when a friend used to practice it!  Of course my husband looked slightly ill terrified horrified stunned shocked (not in a good way) while my own mother just rolled her eyes at me.

But looking back she was right.  I was nuts.  I was turning into that person that was so excited to have remembered something that I just randomly blurted it out to prove I could still be smart.  And consequently looking ridiculous!  Point taken, Mom.

Also, doesn't help that I find myself telling my five-year-old daughter to turn down her music at least 3 times on any given day of the week.  Not that I mind the noise, but I'm sick of listening to Ke$ha.

Okay, so now that I'm totally off topic....  Stink, aka my brother (who does actually have a real name, but will forever be Stink thanks to a childhood nickname that stuck) is finally 30.  And I couldn't be happier.  He's an amazing man/dad/husband/uncle/brother/son/employee/person-in-general.  And I feel lucky that I get to know him.  (And to have blackmail photos of him in pigtails to show his kids when they get older!) But as always on his birthday it makes me miss when we were young without a care in the world...  (at least compared to what we care about these days).  But today I had a opportunity to see him for a few minutes to wish him a happy birthday in person and it was great!  He may or may not have danced along with the music in the musical card my kids got for him.  He also may or may not have sung and danced to the old-school mario theme song.  And he may or may not have quoted lines from Aladdin.  [You try to figure out which of these is true... I dare you... ;-) ]  But it was almost like old times and it was perfect!  So today my happy mood is brought to you care of Stink.  Happy Birthday, kiddo.  Thanks for finally turning 30.  Took you long enough!