To Josh

You’re pretty much the coolest guy I’ve ever met.

You’re the funniest, and I’m glad that not everyone knows that about you.  Most of the time, I’m your only audience, and I love it.  Your wit is unmatched – sometimes it even takes me a minute to catch up. 

You were out there for me all along, and I for you.  Growing up 80 miles apart from one another, I wonder if our vehicles ever passed each other on the Interstate.  Did I ever see you at Adventureland?  Or at the mall? 

Our lives were on our own unique paths up until that night in May 2001, when I caught my first glimpse of you – random isn’t even the word.  Randomness can be quantified in odds and probability, but God had a plan.  I wish I could go back to that night and take a good look at us, how we interacted, the way we looked at each other.  We didn’t have a clue then, did we? 

And it didn’t take long until we were lock-step in the same march to our future, pledging our lives to each other. Where I end and you begin, my love.

Today I not only know more about the man you’ve become – because let’s face it, we’ve matured into adulthood together – but I also know what you were like as a little boy.  I’ve got two of you running around here all day long, teaching me what you would have been thinking, what you would have been saying, what you would have been doing.  Ok, it makes me crazy some of the time – yes – but most of the time it makes me laugh.  Boys are such strange creatures and I know from your parents and other neighborhood informants, that you were no exception.

Today I celebrate your life, the way it joined seamlessly with mine, and our very own little creatures that came from it.

Happy 27th.