Big Thanks.

Aunt Jan lucked out when she married Uncle Mike. Seriously.
She'll always have someone around to do the heavy lifting, fix the plumbing, and most importantly, haul her around. (not my words, his.)
He married into what would become a pretty large family, and was forced to give up his birthday for me the year I graduated. Lame. I know.
Well, Uncle Mike, this one's for you.
This year, in a terrible karmic retribution, I am forced to give up not only my birthday but a concert as well to watch a bunch of high school seniors trot across a stage in matching robes.
Come the end of summer, someone will have to haul Mike somewhere in Colorado, depending on where he decides to go to school. No biggie.
I, of course, chose something a little bit difficult, and with us not having anyone to do the heavy lifting around the house, the situation was conferred upon by the family and a decision was reached.
Uncle Mike hauled me all the way to Chicago, sat through a breakfast in which I'm pretty sure he thought I would never stop crying, and then drove home. But he did get to see the Cubs. It was awkward. Mike and Brian and little Mike sat there eating and I sat there bawling. Not having been around teenage girls in awhile, I'm sure they were scared.
So this year, I'm hauling myself out. Uncle Mike, I'm sure I'll miss you and I'm sure I'll appreciate the long haul you guys made even more than I already do. I was too busy crying to even think about anything but the imminent end of my life. (which actually didn't end right there)
I was telling Danny that I was going to blog about Uncle Mike and he started laughing. He loves you guys, for some reason I think he likes you the best. You're yin and yang. It's nice. But I told him that Aunt Jan will read this and then yell "Michael! Michael!" and make him come read it. He laughed a little harder after that.