I am the second youngest in a family of four brothers. I love all my brothers very much and I think each one of us brings something unique to our family; however, I have always had a strong connection to my oldest brother Julian. Julian is 29 years old and 6 years older than me to the day (Yup we’re born on the same day!). This idea that Julian and I shared the same birthday is probably at the root of why we are so close. We always had combined birthday parties and dinners growing up, which forced us to learn how to share with one another at a very young age.

I was thinking and something hit me recently…what are birthday parties about? Age. Because we shared birthdates I think I was always aware that Julian and I were aging, and for some reason numbers always stuck in my head. I never wanted to get older. In fact, my mom used to refer to me as a lost boy from Peter Pan because for some reason even as a small child I did not want to age, get older, and not be a kid anymore. I even remember crying in my mom’s bed when I turned 10 years old because I didn’t want to get older. In my mind at the time, 10 meant that I was now double digits and it was all downhill from there!