Sir John of Sirjohnsville...aka Johnnycakes

Another "brotherly" post.  I'm really looking forward to going home this weekend and it turns out that I'm actually going to the first Clemson home baseball game of the season with some great friends.  And who better to join our group than ....(drum roll please!) John!

Let me think about this:
Clemson fan...check.
Baseball fan...check.
Brother that I love...check.
 I ask you, why wouldn't I want John to come?

I love all of my brothers, but I think my relationship with John is the most unique.  Unfortunately for John, we have that perfectly terrible age gap that meant when I was a teenager and yes, probably somewhat annoying and maybe, just maybe a little bit bossy (but only a very little bit, mind you!) John was at that lovely, pestering, get on your nerves all the time kind of age himself.  And he was younger.  And did I mention he got on my nerves?  I know that I said Alfred and I had our disagreements at times, but honestly, he had more of a fighting chance because our age gap was so small.  John, poor thing, really didn't. 

So yes, we both drove each other nuts until one day this surprising, miraculous event took place:  I decided to go to college at a school that was not in Clemson.  While I expected Daniel (more about him in another post) to be upset about me leaving, to my surprise and shock John was adamant that I shouldn't leave.  However, fortunately for both of us and our current relationship, I did go to Winthrop.  Now we really enjoy each others' company (well, I guess I can't speak for him, but I certainly enjoy his company!) and we have way more in common than I think either of us ever realized.  We both love to read, we're both good writers, we both like math and are good at it (though he is definitely way better at it than me!), and we both appreciate the differences that of course we still have as well.

Crazy.  Even more crazy is that John is now about to turn eighteen, graduate from high school, and go off to a college of his own (as far as I know he still hasn't made a final decision...).  I can't believe how much he has grown up, or how old that makes me (yikes!), but I can definitely appreciate our relationship and am super excited to have the opportunity for him to join us at the game on Saturday.  Go Tigers!!!

PS--for those of you wondering...the title is a compilation of past and current nicknames that John has collected over the years...