Happy Birthday Broturkey

Dear John(Broturkey),

It’s been a while since I’ve talked with you or filled you in on life. I figured this would be a good birthday present. I know this is coming a little late on your birthday but you’re used to that, we’re both usually late wishing a happy birthday or remembering to give a call back.

Since we last talked I got married to a sweet girl named Mary. I told you about her once when we were dating but things got more serious after that. She’s about 6 inches shorter than me, has big pretty eyes, has hair that is the color of Julie’s, and best of all she laughs at all my jokes(usually). Remember that time when I asked you if you liked Emily because she reminded you of Julie? I guess I was thinking about the hair color and thought you might have thought the same thing about Emily. Our wives seem to have a lot of great attributes in common with our sista.

In June Mary and I had a beautiful boy named Max Arthur Alley. The name Max was suggested by Kariesa because Grandpa Alley had a brother named Max. Kariesa said, “Couldn’t you hear your boy playing a sport and the crowd chanting, Max! Max! Max!”? That sold me. Maybe he’ll be a wrestler like us? As you may have guessed Arthur is for Uncle Art who has been great to us and has found a special place into Mary’s heart. He has light blond hair and smiles a lot. He laughs at my jokes too! It’s neat seeing him and Johnny grow up. They are partial replicas of you and me!

You’ll be happy to know I graduated from college. I don’t know if I thanked you for the call when you told me about staying busy in college. You said that you did better in school when you had a lot of things going on. Well I did that and it landed me a job with a company called Get Found First where I do internet marketing.

I miss ya bro. I don’t really tell you that enough but I think it a lot. I miss skiing with you. I miss playing tennis with you. I miss playing Settlers with you. I miss hanging out with you, Julie, and Anna. I miss your ideas for fun things to do over the holidays. I miss talking about Ohio State football with you. It’s funny how we both ended up loving that team because of Dad. It was fun watching and talking sports with you.

I remember the last time we hung out over Christmas. Do you remember when I beat you in Settlers and Rummikub? You don’t? You wouldn’t. :) I remember we went skiing for the last time in a while at Snow Basin. I remember you invited me to go build snowmen with Emily’s family down near Bountiful. It was about an hour away and I decided not to go. That seemed far for me to drive then. It doesn’t seem far for me to drive now to be with ya.

I wish I could hear your advice on life right now. You were always really good with finances. I want to be good with my finances too. You seemed to know the right career choices to make also. I wonder what you would tell me right now.

I hope you know we’re all doing pretty well over here right now. We miss ya but we all know we will see you soon. I’m sure you’re keeping busy over there. I know you were a faithful Elder here which means you’re continuing The Work over there. If you get a minute take some time to say hello.

Love ya bro. Happy 29th Birthday.

-Luke(Broham… I can’t remember why you started calling me that, but I always liked it.)