Happy Birthday Sean Christopher Hodges!

This is Ryan and yes, occasionally I do post a blog, but I'm not nearly as good at it as my wife, nor am I very organized. In fact, it really is a miracle I remembered that it was my brother's birthday at all! My brain is a strangely disorganized, cluttered place. Oh, and my wife reminded me it was Sean's birthday. Hooray for wives!

Sean and Madi chillin' at Grampa and Gramma Hodges House


But I did remember this time! Happy birthday Sean! My littlest brother turns 27 today! Unreal. I remember back when we used to play with our stuffed animals with my other brother Nathan. Sean's stuffed animal was the one that usually always got beat up. I think there were a few stuffed animals, but the ones I remember are Baby Bobbidy Boo, who absolutely NEVER won a stuffed animal fight! Another was Christopher the Golden Retreiver, who was forbidden by Sean to fight. Christopher was his favorite and would have none of that barbaric fighting to the death. The last I remember was this big huge bear (I don't remember the name, but he had a big hole in his chest that Nate and I's stuffed animals would stuff their hands into and rip out stuffing (stuffed animal guts)). Looking back, I feel kinda bad for that poor bear. He literally had the stuffing pummeled out of him over and over again.

Sean with me and Nathan (you can't see it, but Nate is giving Sean an atomic wedgie, hence the look of aggitated consternation on his face)

Sean is a great brother. No matter how many times I gave him a wedgie or pushed him down the stairs (sorry about that...), he still wanted to hang out with me. I look up to him for his ability to take care of people and help others feel included wherever he goes. He has a very giving heart and is constantly thinking of others.

Now back to the times I humiliated Sean... This one time I threw this football at him and his best friend Eric Mapson and I nailed Sean right in the eye. We took him inside and we were trying to calm him down, when I asked "are you ok?" And he replied "who said that?" At that point I knew deep down he was not too hurt if he had the gall to pretend that he was on his deathbed and about to pass on. So I laughed at him. Ok, that was probably really mean, but you have to understand that we were pre-teens and our brains didn't work the same way they do now (actually, I wouldn't be surprised to learn that pre-teen brains don't actually work at all).

We used to go outside every time it snowed and go into the front yard to play what we called "Marty and Biff." That's right, we would recreate a situation in which Marty McFly and Biff Tannen from Back to the Future would accidentally run into each other on the street. Pain ensued as I would proceed to Judo the tar out of him. After I had had my fill, I would sneer "see ya 'round, punk." We would both walk back to our starting spots and say "2 years later" and do the same thing over again. This process repeated itself for sometimes hours.

Sean and Nate cuddling

Sean is also a very accomplished musician. He writes and creates some of the craziest and best beats and techno/rhythm I-don't-know-what-you-really-call-it stuff out there. He's pretty famous from what I hear on the internet for his tunes. He does soundtracks and stuff on his computer that are really sweet.

Sean at his most serious

I could go on, but all kidding aside, Sean is one of my best friends and just about the funniest kid you will ever meet. I wish we could see him more and I know that Madi and Avery both miss him and love to go on adventures with him. He is a great Uncle and a super brother. Here's to Sean! Hip Hip Hooray!!!

Addendum: we would also like to wish a happy birthday to Thomas Lorenc! He is the son of Yvonne and Brady Lorenc. Brady and I went to high school together and he is one of my best friends of all time!