Day 11: Big Brother is watching

First off, apologies for my blogging hiatus. I went to Hawaii for 1 week and I feel like it set me back about 28974 weeks. Add to that a surprise party for my older brother, Jess, and you have a severely disoriented writer on your hands. Oddly enough, my next topic in the 30 day challenge is to talk about my siblings. I thought that was quite fitting :)

I have 2 older brothers, Jess (just turned 30...hence the surprise party) and Cole (33). Jess and Cole are 3.5 years apart, Jess and I are 4 years apart, and Cole and I are 7.5 years apart. I feel like I'm setting you all up for a mathematical word problem, in which you figure out the tangental velocity based upon the age of children in my family. Or something.

Cole is married to the oh-so-fabulous Jennifer, who is the best sister-in-law a girl could ever ask for. She is someone I can call anytime to vent, gossip, yell, or just to chat. They have been together since I was 9 years old, in the 4th grade. I know, right!? I've told them time and again that I'm really glad they got married, because it would have been a HUGE adjustment for me if he had married someone else. Seeing as how they had been together for half of my life when they got married. Weeeeeeird. They started dating when Cole was a Junior and Jennifer was a Senior, and the rest is history. They were married in 2002 and now have 2 awesome boys, Oliver (4) and Henry (18 months). Cole is a Major (or is it Major-Select? I can never keep these things straight) in the Air Force and is pretty much the most intelligent person I have ever met. To be completely honest (and modest, too), my siblings and I are pretty intelligent people. Mom and Dad were a good genetic match in that respect. But Cole got the extra-intelligent genes. Damn him.

Jess Bray has an ever-changing job title, which is currently at "unemployed." But that doesn't really matter when you've been a contractor in Afghanistan for the past 3 years, making more money than I'll ever see in a lifetime. And with everything he has done, I think he's earned that right to be temporarily unemployed. He was in the Army for 8 years (or was it 9?) and lived back in Kentucky during that time. Remember all those blog postings where I refer to Tennessee and Kentucky? I moved back there in 2007 to spend some time with him and get a change of scenery, and ended up staying. He took the contracting position in the winter of 2007 when he got out of the Army, and I decided to stay and take care of his house, etc. I think it worked out pretty well, don't you? I could go on and on about Jess Bray, but most of you have already heard the stories and know that we are abnormally close for a brother and sister. I think the terms "brother-husband" and "sister-wife" pretty much sum it up.

Growing up with my 2 older brothers was something I wouldn't trade for anything in this world. They are incredibly amazing people, full of kindness and humor. I can add that last sentence now that we are all grown up and they have (for the most part) stopped torturing me as a form of entertainment. I hope that someday my children have the opportunities to learn those invaluable life lessons that only siblings can teach.

After all, we turned out alright, didn't we?