evan

it is a very foggy, wet and dark afternoon in kansas city today. I'm avoiding responsibility & patiently waiting for my family to log on to Skype. Parents and younger brother live in Brazil, older brother, Evan, lives in Dublin and I really miss them today.

Evan, in particular, is one I often think about and miss. In part because he's on his own right now in a country that isn't his home, like I was at one point here in the U.S. so I sympathize. But you know, the more I think about him, the happier I get - he's done things I've only dreamed of, he's seen places and met people I'll probably never get to see.

He's 3 years older than me, much crazier, funnier and braver. He has a law degree and wants nothing to do with it, left everything behind in Brazil and the only thing he attaches himself to are meaningful life experiences. He loves nice things but sheds material things wherever he goes, he hangs on to nothing, really. Evan loves to laugh and seems to always become the life of the party, even when he isn't invited to the party and/or doesn't know anyone there.

He's the kind of guy who can be dropped anywhere on God's green Earth and make it. Financial, geographical or language barriers aren't barriers, they're just steps - eventually, he says, everything is conquered, the only true barrier lives in your mind.

So here's to my older brother who pretty soon will be living in New York city. I'm counting the days when we'll be residing on the same land again. He's nuts. He's brilliant. I wish him well.

love,

Dega