22 on the 22nd!!

(i thought this was a funny cake because its so bad)

it's really easy to come up with posts when it's apparently BIRTHDAY MONTH!

so yes, today is the birthday of my littlest brother, player. it is his golden birthday - 22 on the 22nd and i'd like to take a moment to wish him a happy birthday. my older little brother, homie, sent out this tweet this morning (thanks for waking me up, btw, i'm 2 hours behind you in california, ass hole, so your text at 6am was not appreciated):

ErdySouth: 22 years ago today was one of the best days of my life! I remember it vividly... Happy Birthday @ErdyNorth!!!

i'm sure erdysouth (homie) doesn't remember it because he was like 3 at the time. i actually DO remember it and have gotten over it since then. i was 6 when the littlest erdmann (now actually the biggest) was born. it was in the summer, so i didn't have school. i was really excited because mom had told me she had the day off and was going to spend it with me (and i guess the brother). i woke up excited that morning only to go down to the living room and find a babysitter asleep on the couch. i couldnt' understand what was happening. where was my mom? why wasn't she going to spend all day with me (and the brother)? the sitter woke and explained they were at the hospital having the baby. i was pissed. or as pissed as a six year old can be. [clarification, for international readers: "pissed" in the "upset" standpoint, not the "drunk" standpoint. i was not a child alcoholic, although i DID have my first beer shortly after. more on that some other time.] so for most of this fateful day, 22 years ago, i was upset. and then we got to meet the cute little baby who would later become a true player in life. actually, his first nickname that i gave him was "terd" but i didn't know what it meant. it just sound like a name for a baby. i remember after a few months of him being around, my mom told me i couldn't call him that anymore. i was changing his diapper and said, "ok, terd, i guess i can't call you that anymore. mommy said it's bad." i don't think i got the irony at the time. maybe i should go back to it. happy birthday, terd.

oh! and did i tell you that i pretty much named my brother? i was a bit boy-crazy back in the day (pretty much aged 4-24) and at that time, my crush was a boy named derek from day care. we used to play dukes of hazard. i was daisy and i would go hide behind the church and derek and his friend, jared, would play bo and luke and come save me. so i told my mom the baby should be named "derek." she settled for eric. all thanks to me! derek would later play a role in my life - in 3rd grade, when doing the memory portion of the standardized tests, "derek" was a "gold coin." i totally rocked that test because i could remember that. i used to be so smart. sigh...

anyway, back to my little brother. he's off working in the middle of nowhere today. hope he has a great golden birthday!!

(player and me at jimmy buffet last summer)