Whataman

Once upon a time, there was a family that started out with a girl. Then another girl came, and then another girl, and then another girl. All of these girls were quite welcome, but when finally the fifth child came, and he was a boy, there was great rejoicing in the land. 

That boy was arguably paid as much attention as an infant as Prince Harry himself was. His parents loved him, and his sisters fawned over him. He could do no wrong. His name was Joseph, and he was born on May 13th, 16 years ago. 

In the spirit of full disclosure, I have to admit that we may have taught him how to kiss our hands and open doors for us with a hand flourish and an "after you." And we also might have let him dress up in a sea-foam green princess dress once. 

But no matter what we did, Joseph has turned out downright manly. He is taller than me. He has a man voice. The picture above shows him before he turned into a man all of a sudden. Kind of overnight.

I love how helpful Joseph is. He is just a nice boy! When I ask for his help with something, he kindly gives it. He is really patient with me when I am accidentally dumb at something. 

He is also fun to play with. I love playing nerts with him, or Just Dance, or basketball, or biking with him, or Ticket to Ride, or anything else. He is fun to play with and he is so cute - I mean, manly - when he is explaining the rules to me.

Joseph is awesome because he is super-smart. I remember him reading the Harry Potter books when he was only 6 or 7. It was so cute because the book was like, as big as him.

Last year for Joseph's birthday, I took a trip with him and Julie to Virginia Beach. We stayed with some family friends and had a great little weekend. He let us listen to whatever music we wanted to in the car and didn't even act judgey! 

Joseph is super-handsome. See above.

Joseph is versatile. He can be serious, but he is also silly a lot of the time. He does funny poses in pictures and joins in when we burst into a silly song at the dinner table. 

He is a good brother to all of his sisters. One time when we were younger, I was sitting in the study and he and Julie walked in. 

"Oh, hi Sister Johnson!" Julie said. "Thank you sooo much for agreeing to watch Bud today."

"I....." I started to interrupt, but then didn't have anything to say.

"I'll be back at around 4?" Julie said, smiling sweetly at me.

"Sure?" I said. 

"Okay, bye! Bud, be good for Sister Johnson."

As it turns out, "Bud" was a game that Julie and Joseph played frequently. They were such cute little buddies then, and they continue to be now that they are both in high school. 

Joseph is also a good broder to Sarah. He and Jacob like to tease her, like older brothers do, but they really love and look out for her. Look at how manly he is dancing with her!

Okay, he usuallllllyy takes good care of her.

Joseph does track at school. This reminds me that he is a man because he runs like a man. And then he smells like a man. 

 And then, he poses like a man. 

I just think he is a freaking stud. With or without glasses, he looks so great!

Joseph is a leader. He is good with kids, and he is good at spotting the needs of others. I love to see the way he watches out for people who maybe don't have as many friends. He is sensitive and kind. But like, in a manly way :)

He is such a good brother to me. I think one way we really bonded was when I taught him piano lessons. He was my first student, so I tried out lots of new things with him. He was always patient and respectful. He practiced whatever I asked him to practice. I remember sitting next to him on the piano bench and just laughing with him. I love watching him play piano, because whenever he makes a mistake, he shakes his head and kind of grunts, and then fixes it. It's a funny little habit that I actually kind of picked up.....

Maybe from having so many sisters, Joseph has gotten really good at consoling me by saying just one or two things. When I'm annoyed, he'll listen to me vent, and then he'll just think about it for a minute, and then he'll say his one-liner, and then I'll feel better. Just like that. He is so handy to have around.  

I love you Joseph! I love the way you want me to cut your hair even though I suck at it. I love how you aren't too cool to join in on dance parties that we like to randomly have. I love how you develop your own interests in things like LOTR and then you want to share those things with me. You are so great for so many reasons! Keep manning it up!