My brother is cooler than yours.  

I realize that I am potentially offending all male readers with siblings (aka, "brothers") who might be reading this, but I have to speak the truth.  

I've been in a strange funk for a few days, so today I decided that I needed some calm and some stability in my life.  Note: I don't really think that stability is the word I'm looking for in this case, but normalcy is the only other one that comes to mind.  Normalcy is most definitely not what I was seeking, or what I found.  Familiarity, maybe?  Anyway, I knew I could count on my brother to provide this ambiguous, intangible solace.  I grabbed the fishing pole he bought me a few years ago and headed south to do some night fishing with him.  He made me dinner and took me out for ice cream!  

At Marble Slab, I made the following discovery: 

Peppermint ice cream in JULY!!  Four or five years ago, on a warm day in April-ish, Ian and I shared the same craving for peppermint ice cream.  Alas, after extensive searching and researching, we came to the conclusion that peppermint ice cream is manufactured only toward Christmas time by Blue Bell.  What a treat to find it so unexpectedly today!  Of course, today I wasn't craving peppermint ice cream.  Instead, I opted for a scoop of Birthday Cake and a scoop of Double Chocolate, a combination which I am confident God himself inspired today.  That being said, I still appreciated every moment spent gazing upon the tub of peppermint ice cream before me until it was time to leave.  

Then brother and I headed to Target, where he made me try on every pink baseball mitt, overly-small bicycle helmet, floppy sun hat, and pair of gardening gloves in sight.  We had a blast.  Hanging out with him was exactly what I needed.  

Also, I started my eight day stint of summer school teaching today.  Since denial is my number one go-to coping mechanism, I will not say another word about work.  

The end!