What I can say is that often he is just what I need to make it through my day.  When Steph and Scott were younger, Steph would amaze me with her brilliance and Scotty would always make me laugh.  Don’t get me wrong, Scott is bright and Steph is funny, but they both seemed to gravitate to one side of the spectrum.  Their little brother is a strange combination of both of them, and I suppose this is more of a formal warning to you, and the world, if it is anything at all.  You just never know where he is coming from, you are only guaranteed that it will be interesting.

Yet at this stage of my life I find it pretty refreshing as I enjoy it all.  I, like Scotty, was very rarely serious in this life but unlike him, I spent a lot of it in trouble.  Scotty was funny but good, so much so in fact that I shared with him before he left for the Marines that I wondered how he could not crack some joke and end up in the brig.  Of course I probably was the best example of victory in this area as God turned out to be far more funny than me though in calling me to the priesthood.   And I know from my career, and believe the same to be true for Scott, that the temptation is great when your work environment is a consistent comedic straight man lobbing softballs that are hard to resist.  I don’t always do so well, but then again I am not risking a court-martial.  And after the first two weeks of not being thrown out of the priesthood, I figure everything else is the bonus round.

We however are all, like Steph, pretty darn smart.  Steph just applies herself and is of course a girl.  I suppose the burden she bears is that she takes it all a bit more seriously than we do.  She takes great pride however in being the oldest of this herd.  Yes, her brothers drive her nuts, but she loves them.  And she still has hopes for the younger one that she still has hope for……she has given up on the rest of us!

Goodnight my friends and God Bless!

Tommy+