July 29, 2016: He Ain't Heavy, He's My Brother

And the road trip begins...

Purportedly I'm bossy. But that's coming from my brother. So what if I like the car at optimal temperature while we travel across Nebraska? It's not my fault that his car doesn't have a good temperature between really cold and really hot.

If you feel it, say it. So when I was cold, I told him. And when I was hot, I did the same. It's his car, so climate control is his responsibility.

But he just gave me the stink eye as we traveled west across Nebraska on Interstate 80. Acting like we annoy each other, but loving every minute of our time together on the road.

Eight hours. Three comfort stops. Two thunderstorms. And his daughter (my niece), Ky, sleeping in the back seat through it all. Matt and I just bantered in the front. Just like old times.

I love road trips. Especially with family. When Matt and Ky decided to visit us in Denver for the weekend and Matt asked that I join them for the drive out, I was all in. With my oldest brother, we typically laugh most of the time we're together (did I mention that I have soooo many unbloggable stories, like me driving him home from his recent colonoscopy??).

As opposed to all of our childhood family trips where I was placed in the middle of the back seat of Dad's sedan with Matt drawing imaginary lines which I wasn't allowed to cross, this time I got my own seat. Front seat. Passenger seat. Golden.

Time to get even for all of those years of torture in the back middle. With the invisible lines came rules....

"Don't cross or I'll punch you in the arm."

"Don't look at me!"

The torture of being the youngest sister. But this road trip....

I was the pampered queen. Paybacks.

"I'm a little warm. Can you turn it down?"

"You might want to slow down. That rain is really coming down hard, isn't it?"

Don't get me wrong. I love my brother. But I equally like to give him a hard time and one up him in our verbal banter. We experienced the joy of three siblings born within a year of each other. Now we are all grown up, but some things never change.

But we had a great time. By the time Ky woke up outside of Denver proper, we updated her on all of our antics and the drive in general. It was a good one. We laughed and laughed.

My brother is the best. Everyone who knows him, knows this to be true. We love Matt. Salt of the earth.

And know that we are having a wonderful time in Denver full of bike rides, hikes, and family time. Tomorrow we will meet up with the oldest two Lane boys in Fort Collins. Life is good.

Family is a blessing. I love mine. We are perfectly imperfect, finding humor in our little quirks. If only our third wheel, brother Mark, was here to join us. Some of my best lessons in life were learned by being sister to my brothers. Never giving me an unnecessary break, but always there for me. The many laughs we share are just frosting on the cake.

The fun part is watching our kids follow suit. Never a dull moment when we are all together and the moments I most look forward to sharing.

Me and Ky. Goal is 2 hikes each day during our time together this weekend.