Can I wipe my nose on your arm?

For most people, that thought would never cross their mind, to either be the wiper or the wipee. But with my brothers, especially Tyler, questions like that were daily occurrences of life at the Davis house. Unfortunately, I was the recipient of that particular question. Never did I assume Tyler was serious, so I said "sure!" I immediately regretted that decision. He grabbed my arm and wiped a long, snotty trail of snot across it. It was disgusting.I find myself safely 2,000 miles away from him now. No one has wiped snot or popped blisters on me. No one has described in great detail their sweaty armpits for 20 minutes straight, no one has shoved hairy armpits in my face, no one has shot me in the head with a dart, and aside from the booger on page 302 of the hymnbook today, I haven't been close to someone else's booger in a long time. In case you couldn't tell, Tyler's goal in life was to make me completely insensitive to disgusting things. It worked. But now that he's 2,000 miles away, I find myself missing him quite often. Growing up Tyler and I were super close. We told each other most everything, we shared a room for some time, we kept each other out of trouble as much as possible and I thought he was the coolest thing next to Radiohead. We did so much together. Some of my favorite memories with Tyler include:

• Building a rope ladder and attaching it to the tree across the roof in the back (I was 9 or so, how else were we going to sneak out?)
• Watching him and Michael shoot fireworks off the roof in the middle of the night (why did we think Mom and Dad wouldn't wake up?)
• Putting make up on him and Clay while they slept
• Putting make up on him and Sean while they slept
• Putting make up on him and Nic while they slept
• Putting make up and toothpaste on him and ... who was it, Clay again?
  Letting him shoot me in the butt with a BB gun so I could drive his car to Tina's for lunch (I was barely 15)
• Bribing him to loan me his car so I could drive to a high school dance (I didn't have a DL)
• Staying up late and talking about life
• Helping him and cousin Darren push the truck out of the driveway so they could go get Mountain Dew
• Creating pumpkin road blocks after Halloween
• Working together at several different places. My favorite, of course, was Jackson Hole, Wyoming.... ("I wanna go to Tannerland..." "doodoodooloodooloo".... "write an essay on the following, "Toast. Canoeing and the gospel. Chacos, and why the toe strap is essential..." pig wrestling, camping on Smoky Mountain, the tower, the jumping tree, the jumping rock, the jumping rock I almost died on, bike trips... helping him and Bregelle get together, being the super awesome brother-sister team, the 20 person hot tub that worked some of the time, the hot tub at Best Western that worked all of the time, going to the movies, letting him wreck my car while visiting Bregelle :) going to Driggs.., etc)
• Visiting him in college
• Taking road trips across the country and making him and Bregelle listen to Country
• Hanging out with Bregelle and the rabbits
• Hanging out in Sugar City with him, Bregelle and his in-laws
• And on, and on, and on...
  Today I am thinking about Tyler because he is celebrating his 28th birthday! Can you believe he is that old? I can't. He still looks the same as he did when he was 16. Only, slightly fuzzier. Despite all the trouble we caused as kids (adults), Tyler turned out alright. He married a beautiful girl, graduated with a degree in art, and lives in Salt Lake City. He even sends really nice Christmas presents. Well, OK, Bregelle sends really nice Christmas presents but I'm sure at some point he helped. And I'm super glad I have a big brother like him. So here's wishing another 28 years of booger-wiping happiness to you, Tyler! May all your days be merry and bright, and may all your birthdays be full of warm fuzzies!