My (not so) Little Brother

Recently my little brother asked his girlfriend Hilary to marry him!  We are very excited.  We love Hilary and we are thrilled that she will “officially” be a part of our family.  But really it’s hard to believe that my little brother is engaged!  It seems like only yesterday when I was making him play with Barbie’s ,  be a part of “my classroom”, convincing him to drink an entire jar of pickle juice, or making him believe that he could fly with a little “pixie dust”, (which was actually salt).  My younger brother Cory is 4 years younger than I am and 7 years younger than my older brother, Derek.  Cory is the typical youngest child; just ask my older brother or me! He got EVERYTHING he wanted, got to do ANYTHING he wanted to do, and got away with IT ALL!  On the other hand, he had to deal with all the things the youngest child has to deal with.  He has often said that he had 4 parents because Derek and I have given him lots of parental advice!  He had to attend countless softball and basketball games watching his older brother and sister and had to live in the shadow of his two older siblings. (And considering how cool his older siblings are, he had pretty big shoes to fill!) I believe that Cory always took it in stride.  He may have been Derek and Lauren’s little brother but he made his own path and became his own person.  Honestly, I think he is the coolest one of the three of us! (Sorry Derek!)  I always think of Cory when I hear the line “God smiles on my little brother, inside and out he’s better than I am”, from the Taylor Swift song, “The Best Day”.   He is a good guy, inside and out.  I have come to admire him for so many reasons.  I admire Cory because he is his own person.  He is probably the only 22 year old guy that I know who wears thermal pants under his pants on a regular basis!  He has his own sense of humor, his own style, and his own opinions.  I admire Cory for standing up for what he believes in.  He is a deep thinker and once he thinks through something and makes a decision he sticks to it and doesn’t worry about what others think.   I admire Cory for his leadership abilities.  He is the kind of guy people want to follow.  I admire Cory for his loyalty.  He has lots of good friends because he is a good friend.  I admire Cory for his love of family.  He makes a point to get together with his family and loves his niece and nephews.

It’s still hard for me to realize that Cory is a senior in college and now has a fiancé, maybe I will always see him as my baby brother, but I know that he is not so little anymore and I am proud of the man he has become!