Little Brother's Birthday

Another birthday, Another Party...

Today was my little brother's 27th birthday! I can't believe he's 27. It makes me feel old.


He's had a hard go of things lately and he deserved a good birthday with a big chocolate cake. I hinted at things in an earlier post (and he'll hate it that I'm going to talk about this) but my little brother was diagnosed with cancer. I can't even begin to explain how it feels to hear your little brother say that to you. I clearly remember the day he went to the doctor and was sent immediately for an ultrasound. I was in a meeting and my cell rings and I see that it is him so I answer it. I say hello and I can hear it in his voice. He was just leaving the clinic and getting in his car. His voice cracked as he said it to me..."I have cancer." I can't even imagine what that was like for him to hear. It was horrible enough for me to hear as his brother. It was like time just stops and nothing else matters. I needed to see him and be there. This shouldn't be happening to my little brother. He's just a baby.

My little brother is a LOT like my dad. Everything is infused with jokes and laughing. It's the way they cope. But during this whole ordeal there were moments where I caught the look in his eye or the way his face would drop and you could see the fear and heartache. It's a horrible feeling to be powerless. I felt so powerless to say the right thing, do the right thing, make things better. There was no making it better. All we had was wading through it together.

At Thanksgiving, my little brother's wife Lori made a toast. She had been watching a TV show on elephants. When the baby elephants are in trouble or threatened, the adult elephants circle around them and protect them. The Barker family is like a herd of elephants. When someone's in trouble we circle around them, protect them.



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I love the show "Brothers and Sisters" because it is an over-dramatized version of my family. We aren't that bad, but sometimes we're a little much. At times the Barker's can be suffocating, especially if you aren't used to it. I'm not sure how the in-laws (Abby, Lori, Lawrence) put up with us. But it is absolutely true that if you mess with one of us, you mess with all of us. When someone is sick or wounded, we are there guarding them, watching them.

My little brother's surgery went well. They removed the tumor and got all of it. There have been lots of jokes about bronzing it and putting it in a bell. There has been lots of laughter and some tears, both as a family and as individuals. Aaron will start radiation in January. He'll have it every day (M-F) for a month. It's gonna be a tough month, but he'll be OK. He has to be OK. He's my little brother and he's 27 years old and I adore him. His wife has secretly told me that he looks up to me, but the truth is I look up to him too. He's always been the personable one, the funny one, the athletic one. But he also has a heart of gold and is like a giant teddy bear. Just seeing the way he is with his daughter will make anybody's heart melt. He is such a good dad.














And so we will circle around him. Like the giant herd of elephants that we are. And we'll get through it, he'll get through it.

But for now we'll celebrate his 27 years on Earth. And we'll laugh and we'll hang out and we'll eat cake and the kids will help open his birthday presents and we will probably have a drink or two and we will just be our normal crazy family.

Happy Birthday little brother!

And by the way take off that stupid Brett Favre jersey. The man is such a poser.