My Soldier Brother

Meet Josh. Brother. Son. Uncle. Protector. Tackle Mountain master. Teaser. Biker. Soldier.

Last Sunday, I met a woman who had recently lost her soldier son (temporarily - life doesn't end with death, and neither do families). As I listened to her story, I couldn't help but be grateful that Josh isn't deployed at the moment. In fact, I get to see him next week!!!! I'm just a tad excited ;) Only a few months ago, I thought Josh was going to be deployed. He was going to come visit before he left, and I was full of mixed emotions. I was rather upset/scared to have him overseas (and my roommate's boyfriend broke up with her the same day I found out he was scheduled for deployment...our room was real fun that day). But I was also suppppperrrr excited to get to see him before I leave on my 18 month mission in September. When his deployment was cancelled, so was his visit. Or so I thought. But then my fabulous big brother shocked me by announcing that he would fly down to Louisiana from Alaska for a quick visit next week. SO. EXCITED.

Josh is pretty BA (bad...awesome?). He can certainly kick some hiney, but to me he's just my big brother.

He's smart.

He has a great shot. (still true - future boyfriends beware)

He's really good at scaring away cats.

He's also a talented dancer.

Not to mention he's a roller coaster tycoon.

Occasionally he plays dress up.

And he's almost always silly.

But always, always he's my big brother. And when you have a soldier brother the 4th is just a little sweeter, because you aren't just celebrating Independence Day - you're celebrating how awesome your big brother is.