Happy (late) Birthday Uncle Dan

This week of April is full of birthdays in our family. My mother-in-law’s birthday was on Wednesday, my brother’s birthday was on Friday and Daniel’s birthday was today! Wow! That’s a lot of birthday cake.

I have some great black and white pictures of my brother Dan from the batch Joshua digitized for me a while back. I just had to post them in honor of Dan’s birthday.

I love you, Dan! Happy Birthday!! Is it 35???

Okay, I do NOT know the history of this picture. My dad looks absolutely dead/exhausted. If this was Dan’s 4th birthday, then I was turning 6 in July, Thom was turning 2 in July, and my mom was 4 months pregnant with Phil. Ouch! No wonder Dad looks a wee bit tired.:)

Dan lives in Michigan, but occasionally finds himself up late at night. Being a bit of a night owl, very social and a great phone conversationalist, Dan has been known to call friends and family across the US (following the time zones). Since we are all the way over on the west coast, Dan has diiscovered he can always call and chat with us, no matter what the hour because, with the time difference, it’s never too late for us. We have great conversations, chatting about everything from movies to Starbucks (a mutual passion). Dan has an amazing way of making people feel comfortable. He is easy to talk to, funny, friendly and charming.

I have LOTS of pictures of Dan but these OLD ones are some of the few actually scanned in to the computer.

Time for a little pool action at Nana and Grandaddy’s indoor pool in MN.

Look at that face! Is he planning some mischief or what?

Being close in age and different in our academic and social interests, Dan and I had just a wee bit of conflict negotiating those teenage years. Okay, I might have been the typical bossy older sister. Who knew we would grow to enjoy each other with some age, wisdom and distance (helped when I went off to college-lol).

Every girl needs a “big brother” and eventually all three of my YOUNGER brothers grew to become my big, tall brothers.

I still remember the first time Tim met my family and the “looking over” he received from my brothers. And people wonder why I laugh so hard at the scene in My Big Fat Greek Wedding when the main character’s brother talks to his sister’s fiancÃ©.

Nick: I’ve never seen my sister this happy, Ian.
If you hurt her, I’ll kill you and make it look like an accident.

I can’t be sure, but I think some sort of similar exchange may have passed between Tim and Dan, Thom and Phil. Thankfully Tim survived the brother test and was permitted to join the family.