Did you know that Indiana means land of the Indians?

So this is Indiana.  The weather is bipolar, you can experience all four seasons in a single week.  We are considered a Great Lakes State, although we only boarder about 40 miles of Lake Michigan, the land is pretty flat here but there is more than corn here also.

President Lincoln lived here as a child.  Lewis and Clark explored here.  James Dean was born here and John Dillenger is buried here.  The first professional baseball game was played here.  Over a million children mail off the letters to Santa Claus, Indiana every single year in hopes that St. Nick will bring them presents.  We have one of the best children's museums and one of the best children's hospitals in the center of our state.  Over 100 species of trees and catnip along the railroads that still carry freight through the towns.

We are the Crossroads of American, the Covered Bridge Capital of the World and the Greatest Spectacle in Racing.  The first Indy 500 race was held in 1911.  And I still have never witnessed this race.

Instead I am home with my babies today.  We are enjoying this beautiful weather, building with Legos and putting away the stacks of freshly laundered clothes and here in a few short hours I am going to sit down and start working on ideas for my little brother's photo boards.

See my baby brother, Nick, was born in 1995 when I was ten years old and I can not believe that we are approaching high high school graduation.  And today, might I add, he is out at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway enjoying the race.

I guess the reason this effects me so much is because tomorrow is Memorial Day.  And in exactually 5 days Nick will graduate from the same high school where I spent those dreaded teenage years on gloom.  In August, he will ship out to boat camp in South Carolina with the Army before being stationed who knows where.  I will always be thankful and honor those men and women that sacrificed their all for this country. I will miss my little brother, as will my momma and my boys and the rest of our family.  I am proud of my brother and will celebrate him this week and pray for him daily once he heads out in his fatigues with the rest of his new family that he will spend the next few years with.  But for today, I will be joyful that he is spending the day with his girlfriend at the Indy 500.