I know I haven't done a VIP in quite a while, but it's never too late to show appreciation for the people in my life. This month I'm introducing my brother, Logan Matthew.
My brother and I are 18 months apart. When we were children, we were the best of friends. As children, I remember us playing with Legos and playing the "floor is lava" before it was cool. We were early risers and would wake up at 5 a.m. to listen to O'Canada play on television ... bet you didn't know that was even a thing! We didn't have many television channels as kids, so we had to find other ways to entertain ourselves. We had a large backyard growing up, so we had a lot of room to run around and climb trees. We would run around as if we were in the world of Final Fantasy (big fans of those video games). When it was raining, we would play on our beloved PlayStationOne or watch TVOkids.
When we moved from Scarborough, my brother was very disappointed. He was in Grade 5 and we both had to make all new friends. My brother is incredibly intelligent. He has amazing math skills and has received academic awards for his testing abilities. Despite this, my brother didn't get into the most academic group and they all were poor influences on one another. There were many difficult years for our family, but luckily, those years have passed. Although the years were challenging, Logan and I were always close. He always came to me when times got exceedingly tough and we maintained our bond as siblings.
Logan is the most loyal, hard-working individual that I know. If he sets his mind to something, than he will accomplish it. He worked at Extreme Pita for many years and quickly rose to a manager position. Now, he works in the Distillery District at a restaurant. He's been there for a year and, again, quickly moved up through the working positions to become a kitchen supervisor. Originally, he went to Ryerson for Social Work, but, like many young adults, he changed his mind after a year. Many people don't usually end up in the careers that they thought they wanted, including me - I went to Brock University for a year for drama ... obviously didn't follow through. Now, Logan wants to be a chef. Although it is a hard career path to follow, I believe in him and know that he can/will be successful. I've never seen him as passionate about anything as he is about being a chef. He's keen to learn and has already developed so much knowledge in the past year. If you ask him about this, he would gladly talk forever about it and he makes you want to know more. I'm so happy that he has found this path to follow.
Throughout our lives we were always close, but we had fights like all siblings. When we were little, I punched Logan in the face and he forever blames me for cursing him with nosebleeds. On the other hand, he bit me when we were babies and I still have the scar on my back ... so I'd say we're basically even. My mom says that one of her favourite memories is when she dropped me off for my first day at kindergarten and turned to see my brother lining up with the rest of the kindergarten children. He wanted to go with me.
Nowadays, I don't get to see Logan very often. I live in Peterborough and he lives in the heart of Toronto. The distance doesn't seem too far, but we are both so busy shaping our adult lives, that we don't always have time to get together. It is something that I need to make an effort to change because I love spending time with him. He will always be my brother, but he is also one of my best friends and he will forever be a major part of my life.
I love you Logan!
