An important person in my life....

is having a birthday today! I love birthdays.

Today is one of my nearest and dearest's birthdays. I have known him for 24 years. He is like a brother to me and I am sure like a brother to my brother. You see being a twin with Brother B means we share some close friends, Mr Y is one of them.

Whenever someone close to me has a birthday I seem to always reminisce about them, so today I am reminiscing about Mr Y!

When I was 24 I was all set to go overseas with a friend from high school. We had paid our tour deposit, bought our backpacks and started planning. However, she was offered a full time job so decided not to go.

I was torn. What should I do? Should I go alone? Should I cancel? The chances of me going alone were probably none if I am completely honest with myself.

Talking to Mr Y about my dilemma, he simply said that he would go with me, so on 1 September 2001 we set off to London to begin our overseas adventure.

We visited many places on our trip; Holland, Germany, France, Switzerland, Austria, Italy, Spain and Ireland.

Mr Y and me in Toledo, Spain

Some stand outs from the trip where when Mr Y toured Anne Frank's house in Amsterdam and bought me The Diary of Anne Frank. I think he was a little mortified that I hadn't read it. But I have now and I will treasure this book forever.

In Austria, he made me do the Sound of Music tour. He was once again mortified that I hadn't seen the whole movie from start to end. It was very moving and I am so glad he talked me into it.

He ran across Florence with me so I could see the real statue of David by Michel Angelo. That was a full-on day but so glad that we did it, it is still one of the most magnificent things I have ever seen.

In London he went with me to see Cats - how can you not see a show in London? He really didn't want to and he really hated it. When the "cats" actually started touching him I thought he would lose his mind!

Mr Y and me in Ireland

The two months that we travelled around seem a blur now, but I do love to reminisce about them.

Thanks Mr Y for coming with me all those years ago! I hope that all your wishes and dreams come true. Happy Birthday.