HAPPY BIRTHDAY, JOE!

J o e- theBROTHER…49 years in 10 minutes flat!

 

 QUICK CLICK for full, crazy, sentimental effect: The mood music



  

My little brother, Joe, turns 49 today.  When we were little, when we were “Jeanie and Joey” way back when, he was my best friend and confidante.  I was bossy and he needed to be bossed.  I was forthright and opinionated and he was the gentle listener who appreciated my opinions.  I talked.  He listened and drew pictures.  He became an accomplished artist and I, a talker.

One time he quietly saved me from drowning and another time he saved me from something much worse.  He risked a lot to be in my corner during a really hard time…or two.  He has spent his life teasing me, tormenting me, aggravating me and protecting me.  I have spent mine acting like I am always right and challenging him to boxing matches (which I win, of course, because gentle Joe would never hurt a girl). 

For a lot of years, marriage and raising kids and careers and life made what we once shared so closely (he was my first nap and room-mate) a sweet, but distant memory.  But then the melancholy of years and a deep, abiding love reminded us to reset our priorities and to be not only a brother and his big sister (he now calls me his “little sister” which is all the more reason to love him), but to be friends – the kind who are God-sent and will never let you go.  For that is what I have in Joe.

During those interim, busy-life years, I once almost lost Joe permanently and I didn’t even know.  I was living my  own life and he was dying, coding repeatedly one night after he collapsed doing police work at the airport.  Thinking now about what I’d have missed if he hadn’t made it makes me nag him and check his pacemaker for malfunction when I see him.  His strong, steady heartbeat is very important to me.

He was my first best-friend.   At times, moving around like we did as kids, he was my only friend.  Now?   Friends to the end!

Forgive my sentimentality, but I have put together 10 minutes (!!!) of pictures of me and ‘the Joey.’  And I added “mood music” because this is how I want to tell him how happy I am that he was born on April 14, 1961.  Plus I am all melancholy and sentimental. 

I know you are probably thoroughly embarrassed now, Joe-Joe, but I don’t care.  It is what I do.  You KNOW I’ve got the “Joey-Joey-Joey-Joey

down in my heart!”  And I love ya!  HAPPY BIRTHDAY!  So glad, so so glad you were born to be MY brother!

 

Now and Forever by Carole King

Now and forever
you are a part of me
And the memory cuts like a knife…

Now and forever
I'll remember all the promises still unbroken
And think about all the words between us
That never needed to be spoken
We had a moment
Just one moment
That will last beyond a dream,
Beyond a lifetime
We are the lucky ones
Some people never get to do
All we got to do
Now and forever
I will always think of you
Didn't we come together
Didn't we live together
Didn't we cry together
Didn't we play together
Didn't we love together
And together we lit up the world
I miss the tears
I miss the laughter
I miss the day we met
and all that followed after
Sometimes I wish I
could always be with you
The way we used to do
Now and forever
I will always think of you

Now and forever
I will always be with you

Happy Birthday, Joseph Allen Moslander

 

 

9 thoughts on “HAPPY BIRTHDAY, JOE!

  1. This is so incredibly sweet, and obviously heartfelt. You, Joe, are a fortunate man. Happy Birthday!

  2. Oh Jeanie….you made me cry. I feel so fortunate to be married to this man. It hasn’t always been easy to say that but once so much junk was out of the way, seeing the gentle Joe you have always known, has made it all worth it. Thanks for sharing all the pics.

    BTW…he has less than two months of battery life left on his pacemaker. :) Don’t worry…he’ll get it replaced in just about two weeks.

  3. Wow honey! As always, I’m sitting here bawling…
    Happy Birthday to Joe that I used to call Arnold in college. I’m so glad you are a part of me too! Blessings. Keep that pacemaker set right, I want you around for another 49 years! Love ya…
    dave

  4. What to say? I love you Sis…thanks for your steady presence in my 49 years and for your always thoughtful ways of expressing your love and concern. If there was a setting sun right now, I’d ride off into it because that would be a fitting end to this magical moment, but as it turns out, the day is just beginning and so I’ll wait. Looking forward to many more years with all of you!! This is a masterpiece…please hold on to it for my funeral/memorial service, would you? :o)

    1. It is true, these days, that you see this sort of thing a lot at funerals and memorial services. Don’t be morbid, Joe-Joe. Because I want you to know NOW, while you’re alive and I can still kick you (hehe) how much I love you. I will NOT be going to this much effort when you die. What good would it do me, then?? No, when you go, I plan to just show up and hope for a great meal afterwards. But I will be wishing you were there.

  5. Happy Birthday, Uncle Joe! The way my mom talks about you shows me how much she’s always loved and cherished and needed you as brother. Thank you for being a good brother to her. Great job on the slide show, momma! I did notice that about 3 decades were missing there – not surprising since you’re not a fan of any pictures of yourself! I think you’re beautiful however and should get over it ;)

    1. Well, these were all photos I scanned at grandma’s house last fall. But the truth is, there are not many of Uncle Joe and I from the married-years. Seeing that very fact makes me want to walk around with a camera in my hands at all times. And as you know, I stink at photography.

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