HappyThankYouMorePlease

I moved to Seattle just a few short weeks ago, but today Portland required my attendance.

My one and only big brother turned 30. My family wasn't expecting me as I excused my presence with the obligation of my first day of work the next day. Everyone understood, of course. But for me, work doesn't come first. My family does. And if that means driving 350 miles in a day, I'm at the wheel. Especially when I have my good friend to accompany me one way of the trip.

Let's take a look at this weekend.

It started off with an AM phone chat with my mom over coffee about her upcoming move to Barbados. I wanted to solidify my visit before her departure. So my ticket to visit her for TWO WHOLE WEEKS has been booked for June. I could not be more excited.

After the chat and a run, I headed to the train station to pick up one of my oldest (in tenure, not in age) girlfriends who had hopped on the Amtrak on Saturday morning for a 24 hour trip to come see my new home and give me some decorating tips. She has outstanding taste and happens to make her living off her talents and interests as an interior designer. We didn't get much done on that front, but we did manage to watch about 1.5 of our favorite movies. Except she didn't make it through the first one:

"I didn't even see Pippi make it to land."

[One of my favorite quotes of the weekend]

Her, my other oldest friend that lives up here, and I, have more laughs in a 2 hour span than the funny bone ever intended or thought the body could allow.

Sunday was my brother's 30th birthday. His lovely wife had planned a little surprise family get-together for that evening. I threw both my mom and dad off course on Sunday morning phone calls that consisted of a faux plan of the day that included spring cleaning and prepping for my first day of classes tomorrow at my new job. In reality, I was headed to "Tubs," my brother's very favorite sammy place that happens to now be down the street from me and then hitting I-5 South to make it in time for birthday festivities.

When I pulled up to my brother's, I was giddy just as the sight of seeing the cars of my family members. I'm a sucker for family get-togethers and really love having us all in the same space, even if just for a little while. My brother was oh-so surprised for his Tub's sandwich... and to see his little sister of course. I was equally excited to see my 30 year old brother and the face of my very favorite person in the world that belongs to a certain 5-month old.

Simply can't get ENOUGH of my niece. I marvel at her every action. She grabs. She drools. She talks (in her very own language). She fixates. She smiles. She cries. This last part has been dubbed "pulling a Teela" as I apparently did this a lot as a child when my mom was out of my peripheral.

She is incredible and makes my heart fill with an uncontrollable amount of love.

As we continually make this vertical climb on the age ladder (the next rung seemingly quicker than the previous years), if we're lucky, we come to take nothing for granted. Not the five-minute phone call to say hello, not the thought of knowing you have a handful of spectacular people in your world that would literally drop anything they were doing for you. Like buying a last minute $50 train ticket to see your friend for 24 hours.

I've realized that I have people in my life that it excites me to be in the company of and am indebted to be apart of their story. People that you want to take little pieces of and place them in your heart for safekeeping. Their wonder is awe-inspiring and you wish that you could elongate these moments and move horizontally instead. One of these people is my big bro. He's my one and only sibling, the one who completely understands my history as he lived by my side underneath our blanket forts we systematically constructed over the Nintendo/Sega and created the silly games that only children can imagine up. Like slithering across the living room floor in a given path while trying to elude ones self from the alarm system. Alarm censor light blinks=You're not winning. Or agreeing to help me make Kool Aid without the supervision of the parents on Sunday mornings and not ratting me out when more of it ends up on the floor giving it a nice sticky pink glow, rather than the destination of the pitcher.

We've celebrated many birthdays together and today his daughter got to help him blow out his birthday candles. Drooling, blowing air, they both extinguish flames and our signature birthday cake from Helen Bernhard's is just as sweet if not sweeter.

Driving back to Seattle at day's end with the joy of the last couple hours I got to spend with my family was evident. It wasn't until I noticed my face getting sore that I realized I had been smiling for the past hour.

Oh, and now I have this to play with.

[iPad!]

I guess in the true nature of a younger child, I get presents on my brother's birthday too.

[Blog Title Credit: Josh Radnor, star of CBS' "How I Met Your Mother" & writer/director of "HappyThankYouMorePlease." Premiered at Sundance 2010, hopefully coming to DVD/BluRay soon.]