My little brother is all grown up

I didn’t have problems turning 30. It was actually 31 that got me. For some reason, I was able to justify that I still had an entire year of reaching some of the goals I had set in my early years. I guess I am over it by now, because I was not too upset to realize that my little brother is now 30. Alex actually turned 30 on January 25th. We went out to dinner when I came home the weekend of my Grandmother’s birthday in early February. But as we heard Alex say this weekend, it didn’t count because Henry was not there to celebrate. So sweet. It almost brings tears to my eyes.

Well, this weekend more than made up for it. I spent Friday evening looking at the book of photos that Mom put together of Alex’s life. (And mine! Hey! I didn’t get one of those!) Then on Saturday night we met Alex and his friends out for dinner at Bleu in Winston-Salem. After dinner we headed to Diamondback Grill for the much anticipated joint birthday party with Meredith, his life-long friend and our honorary Merritt family member. It was so great to see so many people that I had not seen in a while, including Jennifer and Joel, bearing pics of Katherine.

One of my favorite memories includes one of Alex’s friends, who I didn’t realize was from Russia, telling me that she really wanted to buy my parents a liquor drink. She realized that they were not drinking and thought that they did not want to fight the crowd at the bar. I told her that was very sweet, but that they did not drink. Mom might have a glass of wine or champagne on occasion, but my dad never drinks. Then she asked, “Even a liquor drink? I thought of buying them a shot.” That really made me laugh! Very kind offer, but I am glad that she didn’t waste her money and spirits on them.

I managed to obtain Renee’s button, which Erin and Sarah had made for the party. I can’t remember exactly why she gave it up so easily at the end of the night. Maybe it was the robot showdown that she and Henry had gathered around the table. Ryan and I have some stills in my Flickr photos and a couple of photos that I need to put up on YouTube. I love how you can hear Shannon laughing in the background.

All in all, it was a lot of fun. And i was just so proud to be there with Alex surrounded by so many of his friends. He has worked really hard this winter. It seems as if now, he is all grown up.

I love you, Alex.

My pictures of Alex for Erin’s slide show
My Flickr photos from the party
Ryan’s pictures from the party