He would have been 29 yrs old today!

 I had said in a blog post herehttp://learningtostaystrong.blogspot.com/2010/11/i-miss-him-so-much.html that i would tell you more about this wonderful brother of mine, and what better way than today, what would have been his birthday.
I have a hard time still with days like today, i don't need a special day to remember him because his memory crosses my mind everyday. I think it does get easier, but some days are still hard to make it though. like today.
Byron and I were 18 months apart in age, we grew together, and at one point we were asked at school in grade 7 and 8 if we were twins? lol we both laughed and just went with it, but it did not last long as people realized we were not, we told mom about it and she just laughed with us too. (i miss those days).

 We were the best of buddies, always together, don't get me wrong we did the normal sibling thing a fought, but it never lasted long and we were buddies again.
Byron at one point growing up, grew faster than me, and i remember people asking if he was older, it never was a big deal to us, with him bigger felt like he was my protector when we were in elementary school.

 We did almost everything together, and even when we had problems at school with peers we still had each other to turn to with an unconditional friendship, he never judged me in anyway at all, he was and still is a huge part of who I am today.

 A week before his drowning accident, him and mom were visiting my little family, Aidan was just about 9 months old, Byron went to hunt down 4 used tires to hang on a swing that was in our yard that was there from previous owners, he had Aidan in his stroller, he said he needed Aidan there so he could talk to him and they could spend some time together. He hung those tires up so his nephew and future nieces could one day play on them, That swing still holds 2 of those tires (we needed room to hang a baby swing, and we found a tire horse at a garage sale). I think he still watches from heaven as the kids play on them and smiles down on them.

Today February 16Th he would have been 29 years old, wish he was here to celebrate it, but I know he will be celebrating up there and smiling down to us, he would have never wanted today to be a sad day, so today i have a candle lit for him, and I will quietly sing him Happy Birthday.