Happy Birthday, Pete!

I wanted to put this post separately so Pete would get a shout-out in the title! Yesterday was my youngest brother's 17th birthday, and I got to call and wish him well from the Badlands—I know, enough about the Badlands, but this actually has some significance. As those of you who can do math have realized, Pete is exactly 10 years younger than I am, and although it was fun having him around at first, around month 4 or 5, it got a little boring. He was in that awkward phase of infancy where you can't walk or talk, but you're not really new any more, so your older siblings get a bit tired of you.

Of course, my other brothers and I were creative, and Peteball got to be a popular sport, but that ended abruptly when my mom rather forcefully pointed out the risks to Peter's health and to ours if that continued. In short, we had hit the Doldrums of Pete. To allay this phenomenon, my dad began "Conversations with Pete" at dinner. He would prop the baby up on his lap, and we would all take turns asking him questions about his favorite things. "Pete, what's your favorite fruit?" "What's your favorite unit of measurement?" And my dad would voice the answers, always emphasizing the letter 'p': "I like peaches and pears!" "amPeres!" And of course, "what's your favorite national landmark?" "The Pete-trified Forest!" So yesterday I got to wish Peter a happy birthday from a pete-trified landscape.