We haven’t seen each other much lately since we live two hours apart and have both been working a ton, so I was super excited for a chance to explore Portland together for a couple of days before catching an early flight home on this guy’s birthday!

We ate delicious food (five stars for West Cafe, Aybla Grill (holy grail food truck falafel wraps), Hotlips Pizza, Stumptown Cafe, and Bamboo Sushi (sustainability tastes amazing!), drank copious amounts of bombdiggity coffee, got lost in Powell’s book city, had our hearts crushed and eyes opened at the Holocaust Memorial, walked and walked and walked some more, shopped a little, laughed a lot, wrote a lot, enjoyed the mix of rain, snow and sunshine, tried to make it clear that we’re siblings so as not to mess up each other’s game, had no game anyway, and treated ourselves to some celebratory sweets at Blue Star Donuts (I would def give five bright blue stars for the vegan orange olive oil donut that was to freaking LIVE for).

What an awesome way to celebrate! I cherish times like these so much. When I look back on how far both of us have come, I know what an absolute gift it is that we are able to explore the world and expand our experiences in these simple, yet special ways.

He’s my oldest friend, the face I look for in the crowd from the stage of my own life, my coauthor and copilot on this wild ride (not the navigator though – Pisces simply do not seem to care where we’re going). He puts the brother in The Brother Sister Blog and there’s no way on earth I would have the courage to launch this thing and spill my guts without him. He also hates having his picture taken and being the center of attention, but that’s the great thing about having the password for our site… ha!  

Happy Birthday, Brother! Your life is the gift.

Love,

The Sister