I have ruined a lot of birthdays in my day. I have ruined Andrew’s twice. The first time without even being at his party, I sent a card saying, “Happy birthday, have fun ice skating!”, later to find the party was a surprise. I ruined Andrew’s the next year as well, but for some reason I can’t remember how.  Ruined it and don’t even remember how, nice. I do remember swearing I would never ruin another one of his birthdays again. Now around Andrew’s birthday I try not to say anything that I haven’t heard spoken in front of Andrew. Another time, Cathy asked me to go out and buy 12 candles for Cassie. Totally forgetting it was her birthday, I went to target and bought 12 scented small candles. She laughed for so long, and by the time she was done laughing it was time to blow out her candles, all 12 strawberry scented decorative candles. And in true form, I “ruined” my brother’s birthday. I remembered the cake, but forgot the trick candles on the counter that I had bought for little bro. Typical. However, running around the house to gather 20 household candles with my sister turned out to be a great memory. The heat from the candles was serious, and I am pretty sure it took my brother close to 20 breaths to get the candles out.  It was a nice celebration and send off, for another year at U of O.

I already miss him.