Top 5 Tribute

Recently my brother completed his "25 Things" list on Facebook. By Darrel completing his list, my husband completed his list of "25 Things", which is quite remarkable because my husband is just not like that (doing things just because everyone else does it, too.)

So thank you, Darrel, for giving my husband a reason to reveal some things about himself and making him conform. I will now pay you a tribute with a...

Top 5 list of Things I Learned from my Brother:

1. I learned how to pop towels from my brother. I had never popped my daughters with a towel until this past week, when I realized I learned that because I had a brother that had to do the dishes with me for about a year when the dishwasher was broken and my parents saw that as an opportunity for us to learn an important skill together. I got popped with towels while learning said skill.

2. I learned how to lose at games because of my brother. He always won - Rummy, Yahtzee, Clue, Life, you name it. He also always rubbed it in. Along the way, I learned how to shuffle cards and do the bridge at the end. My daughters are very impressed with this skill.

3. I learned the names of all the members of Led Zeppelin, Kiss, Rush, the Beatles, the Rolling Stones, and the list goes on and on. Darrel introduced me to Prince. My knowledge of music was started by him. He took me to my first concert - Journey. I am grateful that he has good taste in music.

4. I never had to learn to mow the lawn because I had a brother that did it. I remember one time when I attempted to mow the lawn and daddy just stopped me and I never had to do it again. A hopeless lawn girl I am.

5. The Bean Report, as literature, was introduced to me by my brother. He was commonly referred to as Fred, which was heavily influenced by his fascination with all things flatulent. As a parent of daughters, I do not believe it is in the nature of girls to become fixated with gas, but I have quite a vast knowledge of gas, thanks to my big brother Fred.

Happy Birthday, Darrel! My world would have smaller and sadder without you.