"It's called Vividality."

"It's called Vividality," I told her. I'd called my bank and credit card companies to tell them I'd be traveling abroad. They can make a note in my account with my travel dates so that, hopefully, when charges come through from Iceland they don't block them thinking it is fraud. "If it happens anyway," she said, "Just call us and tell us again." Well, great. Cause I'm not planning to have cell service over there. Which is why I'm telling you now. Whatevs.

When you tell someone you are going to Iceland, I find you get a reaction. The reaction is never, "cool." It is always, "Really?!?! How interesting! Why??" 

Not everyone gets to hear the whole story that I shared in the last blog post. The abridged version is more along the lines of -- my brother is a landscape photographer and we're going to take pictures. Everyone relates to wanting to take or have beautiful pictures. Most people think they take good pictures:) Shoot, I think my iPhone does a pretty bang up job most of the time!

Yesterday, the banker I was chatting with was intrigued enough to ask several questions. 

"So, your brother is a photographer?"
"Yes!"
"Like, for a living?"
"Well, yes and no. He's also teaches at a college. But, he does own a small photography business."
"Oh! Wow. So will he sell his pictures of Iceland?"
"That sure would be awesome."
"What's the company?"
"It's called Vividality."
"I'm going to look that up in a couple of weeks!"
"Awesome!"

And then at the end of the conversation -- there was this:

"I sure wish I had a sister who would give me a present like that -- a trip anywhere in the world. What a lucky brother you have!"

I get that a lot. My response is always the same.

"I'm the lucky one."

The reason you get a gift like that is because you've been AWESOME. Right? If my brother had been a jerk face to me. If we hadn't been close. If he was just someone I talked to once a year. If all those things were my truth, we wouldn't be going on this trip. The truth is, he's AWESOME. And always has been. We haven't lived in the same state in 20 years. Doesn't matter. He's been the big brother every little sister would want pretty much our whole lives. 

Oh sure, there was that time he dragged me down the stairs by my ankles when I was running to tell on him. There was the time he suddenly imposed the "strike zone" on me when I'd never heard of it before and was sure he invented it right then when I stepped up to bat. There were those times.

But there were also late night talks down in the basement where he told me I didn't need to worry about pleasing other people -- just needed to focus on doing what I thought was right. Where he told me a guy I liked was a jerk and I needed to find another one. Where he hooked me up with his own friends:) Where we cruised around looking for the engagement ring with which he'd propose to his soon-to-be bride. Where he stood up for me and demanded that I stand up for myself -- and reminded me that I deserve so much more.

He's that guy.

I'm the lucky one.