One of a Kind

Bobby was the youngest of my seven brothers. And he was without a doubt, one of a kind. He had such a sweet spirit and the most contagious laugh you'd ever heard. He was athletic, charming, goofy, kindhearted, witty, and extremely lovable. He was such a busy little guy growing up, always keeping us on our toes. When our mom was pregnant with Bobby, I remember everyone thought she'd be having a girl and there was talk of naming the baby Rebecca. Poor Bobby never quite lived that one down.. to our amusement he was instantly nicknamed "Becky" which unfortunately for him, stuck. Picking on him was our duty as his siblings, but he knew we'd always protect him and take care of him the best we could.

When we were younger both Matt and I were home-schooled for a couple years which meant spending a lot of time babysitting Luke and Bobby during the day. I loved playing 'mom' with them and would come up with new games and adventures to keep us all entertained. One of my favorites was setting all of the kitchen chairs into the living room in an 'airplane' formation. I'd transform the living room with whatever I could find in our bedrooms to make it look like an exotic destination. I made each of them passports with coordinating stickers found on their assigned seats on the 'airplane'. We traveled the world in our living room. We also had fun making menus before lunch (almost always consisted of pb&j's or mac n'cheese) which they never seemed to grow tired of. We'd play 'magic land' where Matt would dress up as a fortune teller and we'd transform my room into another unknown land where we let our imaginations run free. Marshmallow gun wars, living room laser tag, sardines, ruthless pillow fights, you name it... we always had a good time.

It's these innocent childhood memories that are the furthest back I can remember clearly with Bobby. I'm happy that we had those times growing up to be goofy and playful together. He grew up so fast I could hardly keep up. To every sibling reading this, take care of each other. Have fun, don't start meaningless fights, spend time together as much as you can, those memories will last a lifetime.
  

Table manners were never really our thing... Dominican Republic family vacation  '06