Happy 40th Birthday Melvis!

You see this guy?

Melvis - the beautiful butterfly - DFW

This guy right here....

Melvis, mid-drive - GA

He's pretty special.  Not only does he have the distinct privilege to be part of my life as one of my best friends & Consigliere but, this weekend, on April 30th - THIS GUY TURNS 40!  And because we love him so much, we're taking a trip to celebrate his big milestone.  In fact, if you're reading this Wednesday night through Sunday, we're probably either toasting his 40th year or recovering from those many, many toasts.

Turtle & Ari; Toasty BFF's

Like all good stories, ours begins when we met Mel in a bar in St. Louis, about the time we first moved from NJ.  It turned out that we were neighbors and thus the friendship began.  Since February 2004, he's always been a part of our lives.  We've been on vacations together, road-tripped, talked through major life decisions (jobs, adoption) and minor life decisions (linen pants, sunglasses, FMK), contracted brain freeze in St. Peters, survived the "high seas" of Costa & Colorado, shared many hours zoning out in front of the TV, had a few DAWG-day afternoons, worn out the seats on some barstools, kept Miller High Life, Knob Creek and a small moonshine distillery in TN in business, enjoyed more than our fair share of meals as a "family of 3" and even chopped a few blades of grass with our golf clubs while being completely eaten alive by mosquitoes (Tybee).

Brain Freeze x 3 - Mark especially hit hard

While I'm prettier - he's a much better golfer than I am

Mel on the left (with the blinding white legs)

Even though he's now in another state making gobs of money and buying fancy watches and cars (his favorite things in life), we try to keep in touch.  And while the phone calls and emails are few and far between due to the fact that we both have crazy jobs and neither of us have lives exciting enough to discuss, when we do see each other, we pick up right where we left off with a weekend full of indifference and intense sarcasm.
I wouldn't change it for the world.

Melvis:  Here's to hoping that the first 40 years of your life have prepared you well for the amount of fun and adventure that the next 40 will bring.  And we'll be right there with you, having a blast, as long as you don't try to wreck any more of my cars or throw me out of any more rafts as we're navigating white water.  Here's to many more days of laughing so much your face hurts and drinking so much that your face is numb. 

Happy Birthday, Mel.  Love ya, Buddy - Ari & her SeidmEn

Mercer & his "Fruncle" Melvis

JenStar & her husbands