Happy Birthday Kid

It's been awhile.

In the time since my last post we have had a baptism, gone on a cruise, moved, had some birthdays, celebrated Thanksgiving, and been in Utah. Tomorrow I am going to take a favorite pic of each event and post it to get us up to date but tonight I want to say something different.

Happy Birthday Nate.

Last year I did a blog post on Nathan's birthday. It was short. You can read it here if you feel so inclined. The only other time I have ever posted about him was here. Basically I said I wanted to smack him on the back of the head. Nate tended to bring out those feelings in people. He also made everyone laugh. He was great for a hug, an afternoon of food, a drive to the gas station or Baskin Robbins, an impromptu karoake song, or a movie no one else would watch with me. I don't usually write about Nathan and the few times I have the posts have been short.
Why?
 Anyone who truly knows a Roundy can probably tell you. We tend to hold in hurts. Strange when we also tend to be loud social people. I have heard us complain about the weather, lack of sleep, a papercut......but then you take my brother Dustin.  This guy is literally in huge amounts of pain everyday. Mostly he doesn't mention it and if he does it's in a joke. My brother Ryan tends to hold the world on his shoulders but he never even shrugs. I once saw my mom fall off a ladder. It was high. Bruised her from head to foot but she just got up and kept going. My Dad is nearing retirement. He has worked hard his whole life. I'm not talking about mid twenties up. The guy had it hard growing up. All hard labor kind of work since he was a teenager and probably younger but he still gets up everyday and keeps going. That is because behind the jokes, the laughter, the holidays and get togethers my family is tough. I'm talking about moving mountains tough. Individually we do okay but put us together and you better get out of the way. That's actually the secret. That's why almost 6 years later we are okay. Even if the posts, conversations, and comments are sometimes short we are all there for each other. Even Nate.

So kid, wherever you are we are still here for you. Happy Birthday - and yes, I am still planning on smacking you upside the head.