Family Friday - Ryan

I want to start something called "family friday" where I spotlight a member of my family. I will start today with my youngest sibling, my brother Ryan.

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I am the oldest of five children and my (only) brother Ryan is the youngest. There are 14 years between us!

(my mom, pregnant with Ryan 1991)

I will never forget when my parents told us that my mom was pregnant with Ryan. I was the ripe old selfish age of 14, and I was admittedly a little disappointed. I hate to say that now, but I was! None of my friends had 5 kids in their family and it felt like my mom may as well be having her 100^th kid. My sadness didn’t last too long, however, and before I knew it I had my first and only brother and THAT was exciting! I’m pretty sure Ryan never got put down as a baby and I remember wanting to hold him forever and ever.

(Ryan, 22 months old)

In many ways, I was Ryan’s second mother. Being the oldest child, I was able to babysit and help a lot, and always felt motherly feelings toward my younger siblings (although they liked to put it as me being bossy!). I was always so proud of how cute he was and loved how much everyone doted over him. I was so proud, in fact, of my brother that that is precisely what my nickname for him was: “Brother”.

(Me and Ryan, 1997 at my cousin Michael's airport mission homecoming)

(Ryan (10), me, Tucker and Kristy (12) visiting Bear Lake with us in 2001)

I graduated from High School and moved away from home when Ryan was only 4 years old, so Ryan didn’t really know me as a sibling the first part of his life. I was more like an aunt to him. I’d see him when I’d come home to visit, but a 14 year gap equals completely different worlds. Ryan was always so quiet on the outside and I would try to relate to him, but I could tell that – even though he was quiet - his brain was observing and absorbing everything around him.

(Ryan in 2003 holding brand new baby Lexi)

Ryan is now 17 years old, and a senior in High School. He is also 6 feet tall and not so “little” anymore. Ryan is intelligent, insightful, funny and handsome. And it’s funny, but I still feel protective of him and motherly toward him. It has been fun to live near him over the past five years and to really get to know him. One of my favorite things is to see Ryan with my girls. He loves his nieces and nephew so much and you can tell they make his heart melt. Ryan LOVES to babysit them (with the exception of any dirty diapers) and, in fact, is Peyton’s permanent sitter while I take the older girls to piano! What a great uncle he is.

(Ryan and my Dad boating at Shaver Lake in 2003)

Ryan has been able to be in the scouting program with Tucker for the past few years, and Tucker has loved having Ryan along for the adventures of scuba diving, hiking, camping, and all the other crazy things they do. I love seeing my husband and brother have a relationship and to have fun together!

(Tucker and Ryan having a kool-aid toast New Year's Eve 2008)

(Tucker and Ryan with their scout troop on their trip to Zion's National Park, summer 2007)

There have been times in my life when I’ve had twinges of “it’s not fair” when I’ve seen some of the advantages Ryan has being the youngest that were not available to me as the oldest child. But I’ve come to understand that we all play an irreplaceable role in our family and no one is luckier than the other. Ryan has benefits of being the youngest that I may not have had, but he also has different challenges that I also didn’t have. For example, he has four older sisters and two brothers-in-law telling him what THEY think he should do all the time! I must say, he takes it “like a man” and loves us still the same.

(Ryan last week at the scout officer retreat on the speedtrack)

I hope Ryan knows how much my family and I love him and what an important role he plays in our lives! Thanks for being YOU, Ryan!