two years.

I love how exciting life is.  When you have four siblings and eight sibling-in-laws all between 13 and 30ish, there always seems to be something exciting going on.  Not too long ago I wrote about my little brother's high school graduation.  And now this last weekend my other brother returned from serving a full-time, 2 year mission for the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints. 

The anticipation...

Shows the emotion of the reunion about as well as any picture ever could...

A bit blurry, sorry!  But here is our family reunited at last!  (if only for a short time...)

Two years.  As I spent the weekend catching up with my brother I was reminded how much can change in two years.  For many, height.  For some, driver's licenses.  For others, graduations.  Jobs.  Weddings.  Babies.  Health.  Bit by bit, life and people are changing.  But the change is sometimes so small that we don't really notice it.  So when I tried to put myself in my brothers' shoes for a weekend, I suddenly realized all that has changed.  And at the same time, all that hasn't changed one bit.  My dad's hair.  My brother's incredible vocabulary.  Our family's obsession with 2 for 1 Dairy Queen blizzards.  And so many other things.

My brother is still the same funny, smart, and amazing guy that I came to know growing up.  But while we've been changing, he's changed too.  Yes, he can speak fluent spanish now.  He's picked up a few mexican mannerisms.  And he's reported a gain of 5 pounds thanks to those sweet, generous mexican women.  But there are some deeper changes as well, and I can't wait to see those changes unfold. 

I guess this weekend just made me think a lot about the inevitability of change.  It made me realize that we are all changing whether we want to or not.  The question I've been pondering all weekend is, how have I changed over the last two years?  And is it a change for the better?  Toward becoming someone better? 

Just a little food for thought.