i have two older brothers, howie and larry. howie is the oldest, then larry, then me. when we were little, we had a cat named Dumb-Dumb (no, i am not making that up. it was short for Dartagnon, my parents always insisted.) we all loved cuddly Dumb-Dumb to pieces.

one day, though, we found out that larry was severely allergic to the cat. larry used to have terrible asthma attacks, and lo and behold – we had one of the main culprits living under our roof with us. so mom and dad decided we would have a family vote: who stays – larry or Dumb-Dumb?

howie and i both voted for Dumb-Dumb. that was when my mom said that we were no longer a democracy, and that she and dad got TWO votes a piece and that larry would stay. Dumb-Dumb went to live with our friends, where i think he lived happily ever after.

years later, when i was in high school and larry was in college, i remember struggling through some Trig homework (Barbie was right – math IS hard 😉 larry sat down and helped me understand what the hell was going on with Trig. and i remember looking at him, and in a random moment, i said, “larry, you know what? i'm really glad we kept you and not the cat. i don't think Dumb-Dumb understood Trig, do you?”

today is larry's 40th. he rocks. as kids, we loathed each other. as adults, we are actually very good friends. i don't know many people who are smarter, funnier, or just plain nicer.

so happy birthday, dude. in your honor, i have stuck my hand down the toilet. you see, your darling beloved niece decided to put a ton of toilet paper in the toilet, and guess who had to fish it out before the toilet barfed it all over the floor?

(i knew that image would make your day! ily!)