25 years ago I took my first breath.

Suddenly I had an infinitely greater amount of space to stretch without getting kicked in the head. As great as that sounds, I was now alone. An Eskimo flying solo.

Or so it seemed.

One minute elapsed.

380 finally made his appearance.

Move over, MMMBop. Boy bands are SO 90s. Duos are timeless.

I could write a whole bunch about our years of growing up together, but I’ll try to keep this post short.

3 reasons why you will always be my number one best friend:

1. You are the reason why we both got asked, time and time again, “are you twins?”

Umm, duh!

2. We have done just about everything together.

That may sound typical for twins, but it isn’t always true for every set.

We were both exposed to the Gospel together…and made professions of faith basically at the same time.

We took swim classes together.

We sang in choir together…our magnum opus – Carmina Burana.

We met the late Roy Rogers & Dale Evans together.

We watched dad go through a rough health patch together…thus growing our trust in the Lord together.

We learned how to drive together.

We’ve traveled the world for fun and for missions together.

I mean, we even took every single college course together. There’s a place for growing individually, but I wouldn’t trade our college experience for anything else. (We got more teacher-student time that way. 😉 And, really, we protected each other from the constant effort of the world to take us down.)

3. I think the most important reason is this – no matter what is going on in my life, the one person I can talk to about ANYTHING is you.

I have wonderful friends, but I know that if I call you or text you or chase you down with my unofficial sniper squad, you are always there. Real friends communicate. You might be busy taking care of work and family needs, but you respond eventually.

…but there is a friend who sticks closer than a brother.
Proverbs 18:24b

I think it’s fair to say you fit in both categories.

True friends are hard to find. The ones that remain friends through every trial. They never go away. Just like in a good marriage, they communicate…frequently. Even with time and distance and change and jobs and loss and new growth. Of course we’ve had our rocky roads. Two teenage guys sharing a bedroom & a truck are bound to clash ever so often. But there was always reconciliation.

Happy birthday to my best friend & favorite twin! I love you & thank the Lord for you, Jonathan!