acting on intentions

this past weekend, we drove to ann arbor to celebrate my older brother's birthday. my brother, zach, is ten years older than me. he's a professor at michigan state, and his wife is a rabbi at university of michigan. we've always been close, and i've always looked up to zach. but as we've gotten older and moved, and gotten more entrenched in our jobs, it's been challenging to make time for each other.

while we were in arizona over the holidays, zach gave me a card in which he wrote that he wanted to see me more in 2018. this warmed my heart in a deep and meaningful way, and i wanted to commit to this as well (because it's something i've wanted for a long time). so, when zach invited alex and i to ann arbor to celebrate his birthday, it was clear that we were going - even if was just a quick trip. we celebrated with good food and cocktails, and i got to meet some of zach's friends. i haven't had a chance to meet zach's michigan friends, even though they've been living there for about four years now.

as i said, the visit was brief but filled with love and intentionality. this is what matters. even though i was definitely bummed to leave so soon, i was mostly filled with gratitude and awe because we are both already working toward making our intention into reality. it's a simple goal, but it's so, so important: to spend more time together. to continue to strengthen our bond. i saw him twice in four weeks, and i only saw him three times in all of 2017. so 2018 is off to a strong start.

to zach i say this: thank you for seeing me, loving me, and being my big brother. i can't wait to see what else we'll do together this year.

door county, may 2016

spring/summer, sometime in the late 1990s

december, 2017