At the beginning of last month, my brother had his birthday. Because he lives in Chicago and I live in New Hampshire, I decided to fly to Chicago so that I could spend his birthday with him. It may seem strange to you that I would fly all the way from New Hampshire to Chicago just to spend my brother’s birthday with him, but we have always had a really close relationship. Although we don’t get to spend all of our birthdays together, if our schedule allows it, we almost always make sure that we go see the other person on their birthday, even if it is only for a day or two.

In addition to my brother living in Chicago, my parents still live together in Chicago. My brother has his own place and doesn’t live with my parents, but the two of them only live about twenty minutes apart. This is always nice, because I can get to the Chicago airport, pickup my rental car, go get my brother and then we can both go over and see my parents, who are always delighted to see both of their sons together.