My brother

Today is Greg's 26th birthday. (What an old man!) I thought part of my gift to him could be a compilation of some of my favorite memories of him and thoughts about who he is. Sister Lucy has also contributed some fun memories.

• As kids, we played together every day in our family's back yard or around the neighborhood. I remember a lot of imagination-based games, like using our plastic golf clubs to stir the huge pile of leaves Daddy had raked--we were chefs cooking our soup. We also played a made-up game, "Friend," where I was the older (and of course wiser) sister, Samantha, and Greg was named Ducky. Once, in all seriousness, I asked our parents if we could change our names to Samantha and Ducky, and I remember being so angry when they said no. (I was probably 6 or 7, Greg 4 or 5).
• Even as a child, I think I had a sense that Greg adored me. Mama says he "worshipped the ground I walked on," and I probably knew it even at the time. I was definitely the boss, and Greg seemed content to do whatever I told him.
• Even though he is two years younger, Greg rode his bike without training wheels way before I ever did. I think he was a daredevil (OK, and I was a wimp).
• When we lived in California during elementary school, we used to ride our bikes or sometimes rollerblade to school together every day. On the rollerblading days, it seems more often than not Greg would forget to bring his shoes. (Perhaps my memory is exaggerated; maybe he only forgot them once or twice.) He'd have to call Mama when we got to school and wait around in his socks until she brought the shoes.
• In high school, Greg was impossible to get up in the mornings. Mama would make the "time to wake up" announcement to him, but he rarely did. I would usually forceably rouse him with about 10 minutes to go before we had to leave the house, and somehow, he was always in the car when it was time to go.
• Greg's high school wardrobe (at least early high school, while I was still there) consisted of plain white t-shirts and shorts. Every day.
• When we were both in high school, we usually ate lunch together every day with a few of our other friends (including another brother-sister combo).
• For my high school graduation, Greg gave me a necklace that he had had made with a family-heirloom diamond. It is probably my favorite necklace I've ever owned.
• There is a host of stories to be told about Greg and his best bud, Ryan. Most of those I know only second hand, but they include adventures with a potato gun, stealing a street sign (and getting caught), shooting each other with a BB gun to see how much it hurt, and I'm sure many, many more.
• Some of Greg's admirable attributes: his work ethic (passed down directly from our dad), his easy-going nature, his ability to have fun doing almost anything, his tender heart, his contagious laugh.
• Greg is already the favorite uncle. :)

Lucy's thoughts:

• Some of my most vivid memories from our childhood are from our living room in Massachusetts where Greg used to make me play "wrestlemania" with him. This would involve him chasing me around the room, tackling me, and things of that sort. He found a way to get me excited though by inventing my wrestlemania stage name of "Ninja Lucy."
• Greg was a big man on campus of our high school when he was a senior and I was a freshman. He was the captian of the football team and an all around popular guy. I would be walking down the hall and all of a sudden be surrounded by huge senior football guys all saying, "Hey! It's little McCann, it's little McCann!" Greg really was well liked by everyone, including his teachers, who would ask me about him four years later.
• When we moved to Virginia and Greg moved back in with the family after being away at school, we got to be closer than we had been before. He would hang out when friends came over sometimes, but mostly just to embarass the guys in polish ping pong. I always enjoyed having a big brother who was protective and wasn't afraid to scare my friends!