So my “little” brother is, as you guessed it, Shipping Up to Boston this week.  He is moving on up and leaving us behind (hopefully only for a little while).  Being the big sap that I am, I keep tearing up as I write this.  And here I thought my tears were all gone! As I’m writing this, my dad and brother are in the Chicago area, possibly heading into Indiana depending on the traffic, making their way to Boston.  I’m cat sitting for my dad’s cat, Boots. She and my cat Harley have participated in about 3 Mexican Standoffs so far.

He may be all grown up but, I don’t care if we are in our 80’s he’s always going to be my little brother.  The little bugger who decided he wanted to be born about 3 months early.

He was my first P.I.C. When we little we teamed up and decided that we weren’t going to talk to one of our babysitters the entire time she babysat for us. It was probably all my idea because I didn’t like her.

Or the time I put my hand through the window in the service door to the garage and cut my fingers and needed stitches.  He called my grandma to take me to the ER. But more importantly, he didn’t tell our parents what really happened.  We had been fighting, and he threw my car keys in the street and locked me out of the garage.  When I was pounding on the door for him to let me in the window broke and my hand went through the window.Or the time that we were playing croquet and he tripped over a hoop and yelled “You’re ruining my life”.  Yes back in the mid 90s we played croquet and lawn darts, with the steel tips.  We lived dangerously back then my friends!

It wasn’t until I went to college in Milwaukee that we really grew closer.  He came to visit me at in Milwaukee, and I introduced him to college life.  He was my date for the band dinner dance my freshman year.  When he had track meets that were close enough for me to go and cheer him on.

When our mom got sick, we were each other’s shoulders.  With him being away at school in Eau Claire, it was difficult for him to come back and forth for mom’s treatments. I know it was hard on him to not be able to see our mom as often as he wanted. And during our mom’s funeral service, he and my dad held my hands the entire time.

Sunday, Greg threw a going away party at one of the local bars.  Most of my dad’s side of the family came, my mom’s sister Jenny and her family, along with friends and Betsy’s parents drove up from Milwaukee for the day.  It was a good way to say goodbye to Greg.

I made a house warming gift for Greg and Betsy.  Here’s a little preview of what I made them.  I also got them some table top picture frames.

I stopped over at my dad’s on my way home from work today to drop off Greg’s gift, wish dad and Greg a safe trip and pick up Boots.

Here are some of my favorite pictures of Greg.

Good luck in Boston!  I can’t wait to visit!