Day 02 - A picture of you and the person you have been close with for the longest.

Well, the person I've been closest to for my whole life is my baby brother. We were the best of friends until he was about seven, then we started trying to beat each other within an inch of our lives. That went on for about seven years, I would say... Then we just told each other how much we despised one another for the next two years. Then we became friends again. :)

Despite the arguments, name calling, punches in the face, etc., we were always there for each other. No one could come between us. I like to think of Joey as the son I was way too young to have. The very bad son that you'd like to send away to some kind of reform school but you can't afford it and even if you could, you know you'd kinda miss him anyways so you just keep him around. Then you pray. You pray that God will intervene and save his little soul. You pray that he will emulate good role models like Dawson Leary or Boys II Men. You pray that he will stop playing music so loud that you can't concentrate on your physics flash cards and you have a test the next day so you ask God for patience and strength not to go down to his room and wring his scrawny little neck. You pray that he could just me more like you, dammit!

Then one day, you just learn to accept him for who he is and you love him with all your heart. You come to accept the fact that while he'll never be the person you imagined he'd be during his childhood, the person he has become is pretty damn amazing.

This picture was taken while we were still in the best friends era of our lives.

This was the last photograph our parents have of us together, genuinely happy to be there. All the others have fake smiles and before the temporary flash induced blindness wore off, we were actively trying to maim one another.

Moving on...

Here we are, later in years. Friends once again. See how happy we look?? That's because I had already moved out of my mom's house, so we didn't have to see each other everyday.

Absence makes the heart grow fonder!

Also, look at how skinny I was! Man I miss those days.. I still have those pants. I'm like the people who keep the old pants they used to wear and they show people and say, "Can you believe I used to wear these? Now my whole body could fit in one leghole.." Only, you know, the opposite. I get them out when we have company over and say, "I used to wear these. Can you believe that? The waist of these pants is straining just being in my presence!" No one laughs because it's really more heartbreaking than anything else.

And here we are, semi-present day. This photo was taken at my wedding, 9/19/09. We were dancing. Or I was and Joey crashed what surely would have been a stunning photo of my graceful movements.

You can see why those pants from the previous picture get nervous when I take them out of the closet these days.

And that is that! Day two of the Thirty Business Day Challenge? Check. Done. What's for lunch?