it’s his birthday

today i was searching for a photo in my computer files.  i came across these ones:

    

even though i took these back in march, they stood out to me today for 2 reasons:

1.  a long ago promise I made to Sarah L. came flying back into my oversaturated brain regarding these pictures.

2.  the story behind these pictures is simply this:

they remind me of my long-lost brother who used to suction the bellies of my babies (elli and emma) with a vacuum.  they thought it was hilarious (even though the vacuum hose left nasty red circle on their tummies).

when ray started doing this to damon’s shirt, it made me think of my brother and what a great uncle he is to my kids.  and how much i miss him.  and how much i wish he wasn’t so isolated from me.

and today is his birthday.  happy birthday to him.  my kids are super excited to see their uncle pepper in a few days.