The Smilin' and Beguilin' One
Here it is, the last family birthday tribute of the year. Today is my brother Tyler's birthday.
Tyler is the biggest dummy I know.
Okay, I had to say that or Tyler would read this whole thing and think I don't love him.
So Tyler is a mere fourteen months younger than me. When we were little he used to think he was older than me, nobody knows why, probably because he is crazy. He eventually realized he was younger, but it was too late, by then he was much taller than me and loved to pretend he couldn't see me at all when looking straight forward because I was so short.
So growing up Tyler and I were always really close. We have a pretty similar sense of humor so we'd always be laughing really hard at things for a really long time, until Tyler got dumb and we fought for awhile.
One thing about Tyler is that he can't play games. He is really competitive (like most of us Reynolds) but when he was younger he wouldn't take losing very well so he was banned from ever playing games with us again.
Tyler and I call each other names all the time. It is like a game for us. I know it sounds horrible, but really, we do it out of love. I know that doesn't make sense, it drives my mother crazy, but whenever I would tell Tyler I loved him on the phone he would say, "Lindsey, we don't use that word in this family!" (of course that isn't true.) But if I tell him he is a big fat dummy, he knows I love him.
Here is the big thing about Tyler that everyone should know. He is really really ridiculously musically talented. He taught himself the guitar and he is a great guitarist, and he took the drums in elementary school and junior high, and still plays them. He got a harmonica for Christmas a couple years ago and went into his room and came out a half hour later or something and played "Come, Come Ye Saints" for us. He has perfect pitch and can teach himself pretty much anything in an instant. Now he is edging in on me with his piano skills so I'm probably going to have to beat him up until he stops playing the piano.
Lately his greatest musical interest has been in jazz. He took a jazz history class this semester and he was working at a music store and he has just become obsessed with jazz. This summer he got married and they had a live jazz band at their reception, and he and his wife danced their first dance to "Little Brown Jug."
Speaking of his wife, Tyler married a really great girl in June, and now I will tell you a funny story about that, and Tyler will be mad at me for telling it, but I don't really care. So when Tyler got off his mission he was pretty gung ho about finding a wife and going on dates. He met this girl at this singles ward and got her number but when he called her she kind of avoided him. This less than successful experience left him a little gun shy and he would often put off asking girls on dates until the last minute. I kept harassing him about how he needed to ask girls out. Well he called me one day and said, "Lindsey, I met this girl at institute last night." I said, "OK, did you talk to her and get her phone number." And he said, "let me tell you what happened!" So I said, "OK." Then he told me how she had been wearing a shirt that said The Format and so he told her he liked that band. They had started talking and he had asked for her number and then the next day he had called her and asked her on a date for that weekend. Then he asked me, "did I do a good job?" I said, "yes you did." That girl was Jessica, and now they are married, all because my brother finally listened to me when I told him what he needed to do to go out on dates with girls.
My brother is a really great and funny guy. Seeing him get married in the temple in June left me with a great feeling. I was so proud of him for living his life in such a way that he COULD get married in the temple, and I was so glad he met a girl that had lived her life in that way as well, so she could go with him. He has a lot of crazy plans for himself, and sometimes he can't seem to make up his mind about what he wants, but when he really cares about something and decides to do it, he is successful at it. He was just accepted to ASU where he is going to major in economics, and then he can work for the president and fix everything that the government has ruined with their massive stupidity. Well, if that is what he wants to do. But believe me, if it is, he would fix it. You'd all have him to thank.
Happy birthday Tyler, you're pretty dumb. I'm glad you were born.
Tyler is the biggest dummy I know.
Okay, I had to say that or Tyler would read this whole thing and think I don't love him.
So Tyler is a mere fourteen months younger than me. When we were little he used to think he was older than me, nobody knows why, probably because he is crazy. He eventually realized he was younger, but it was too late, by then he was much taller than me and loved to pretend he couldn't see me at all when looking straight forward because I was so short.
So growing up Tyler and I were always really close. We have a pretty similar sense of humor so we'd always be laughing really hard at things for a really long time, until Tyler got dumb and we fought for awhile.
One thing about Tyler is that he can't play games. He is really competitive (like most of us Reynolds) but when he was younger he wouldn't take losing very well so he was banned from ever playing games with us again.
Tyler and I call each other names all the time. It is like a game for us. I know it sounds horrible, but really, we do it out of love. I know that doesn't make sense, it drives my mother crazy, but whenever I would tell Tyler I loved him on the phone he would say, "Lindsey, we don't use that word in this family!" (of course that isn't true.) But if I tell him he is a big fat dummy, he knows I love him.
Here is the big thing about Tyler that everyone should know. He is really really ridiculously musically talented. He taught himself the guitar and he is a great guitarist, and he took the drums in elementary school and junior high, and still plays them. He got a harmonica for Christmas a couple years ago and went into his room and came out a half hour later or something and played "Come, Come Ye Saints" for us. He has perfect pitch and can teach himself pretty much anything in an instant. Now he is edging in on me with his piano skills so I'm probably going to have to beat him up until he stops playing the piano.
Lately his greatest musical interest has been in jazz. He took a jazz history class this semester and he was working at a music store and he has just become obsessed with jazz. This summer he got married and they had a live jazz band at their reception, and he and his wife danced their first dance to "Little Brown Jug."
Speaking of his wife, Tyler married a really great girl in June, and now I will tell you a funny story about that, and Tyler will be mad at me for telling it, but I don't really care. So when Tyler got off his mission he was pretty gung ho about finding a wife and going on dates. He met this girl at this singles ward and got her number but when he called her she kind of avoided him. This less than successful experience left him a little gun shy and he would often put off asking girls on dates until the last minute. I kept harassing him about how he needed to ask girls out. Well he called me one day and said, "Lindsey, I met this girl at institute last night." I said, "OK, did you talk to her and get her phone number." And he said, "let me tell you what happened!" So I said, "OK." Then he told me how she had been wearing a shirt that said The Format and so he told her he liked that band. They had started talking and he had asked for her number and then the next day he had called her and asked her on a date for that weekend. Then he asked me, "did I do a good job?" I said, "yes you did." That girl was Jessica, and now they are married, all because my brother finally listened to me when I told him what he needed to do to go out on dates with girls.
My brother is a really great and funny guy. Seeing him get married in the temple in June left me with a great feeling. I was so proud of him for living his life in such a way that he COULD get married in the temple, and I was so glad he met a girl that had lived her life in that way as well, so she could go with him. He has a lot of crazy plans for himself, and sometimes he can't seem to make up his mind about what he wants, but when he really cares about something and decides to do it, he is successful at it. He was just accepted to ASU where he is going to major in economics, and then he can work for the president and fix everything that the government has ruined with their massive stupidity. Well, if that is what he wants to do. But believe me, if it is, he would fix it. You'd all have him to thank.
Happy birthday Tyler, you're pretty dumb. I'm glad you were born.
Comments
Love, Mom