Don -- #5 out of 10

Tomorrow, June 1, my second oldest brother has his birthday. Life is flying by so rapidly; I want to capture some memories I've had with my siblings. Here are some stand-out memories with the brother who was 7 when I was born.

• Working on the farm - milking cows, cleaning the gutters, making sileage, harvesting the grains; always working because there was always much to do
• Telling us how our cat, Pepper, got caught in the mower and got away; days later, with no hind legs, she reappeared and Don did what had to be done. It was hard on all of us, but especially him, I'm sure
• Loud arguments with Tom when parents were not around
• I love the picture of Don and I sitting on the grass with my kitten, Nodak. I remember when it was taken and how we talked about picking that name
• The Army uniform, the fear we lived with when he was in Vietnam; Don was the object of my first really sincere prayers
• He so graciously opened his home to me for a few weeks in the 1980's when we were thinking of moving to Colorado
• He so graciously opened his home to me for several weeks in the 1990's when we finally did move to Colorado

There are many, many more memories, of course. And I am looking forward to making many more. Happy Birthday, brother, friend, president of the family(hee hee). It's comforting to know that if I am ever in a tough place in life, I still have #5 around to help me through it. May God bless you with many more years of health and happiness.