I am an awesome sister.

I am. It is a true fact. My brother is one lucky guy to have me in his life. He might not have thought that growing up, but he surely knows that now.

First, I was on the DOCs website looking for something when I stumbled upon a notice. That beginning in February 2010 GTL would allow phone calls to cell phones. WHA!!!!! Insert big ass smile here. He can call me on my cell phone?! I must figure this out. I was SO excited to tell him that when he burst my bubble informing me that he already knew. WTF. He said he was letting them “figure out the kinks” before he was going to tell us. My guess, he forgot all about it. It happens.

I wanted to figure out how this would work out because you can’t make collect calls to cell phones. Well, GTL is not a collect call per say which is why it works. They are actually a phone company but they specialize in phone calls from correctional facilities. So I called them up to get this all started. I had to set up an account by emailing them the portion of my wireless bill that contains my phone number, name, and address. Ok, that was easy. A few days go by (and I really mean like a week and a half) and I get an automated call. Except I missed it. DANG! Actually I missed it THREE times. Seriously. Bummer but nothing I could do except wait by the phone and pray they would call back. They did! Later that night and it was an automated message telling me to call this other number so I could set up my account. Ok. I do that. I GOT A VOICE MAIL SYSTEM. (insert confused look here…) So I leave my name and number as instructed and wait for them to call me. AGAIN. They called. AT 10:00 PM. It’s a good thing I wasn’t asleep or something. I finally got everything all set up and pre-paid so he could call my cell. Hooray. Now I had to wait for him to call my house to tell him that everything was set up so he could call my cell. (I hate, with a burning passion that I cannot just pick up the phone and call my brother. I really, really do). I didn’t know how long I would have to wait because I had talked to my parents while George was on the phone and told him through them that he should just call early next week because I wasn’t sure when I’d get all this taken care of and we’d be out of town for the weekend. A few hours later we’re all set up and I am sad because now I may not get to talk to him for several days. Good thing my brother never listened to me anyway because he called the very next day! He tried my cell just to see (because again, he never listens) and IT WORKED! I was so excited when I saw that number come across my screen because I knew it was him. We had an awesome conversation about the wonders of technology. And as soon as I hung up, for the first time in 3 1/2 years, I put my brother’s phone number in my cell phone. And I even gave him his own ringtone. (Even though his old number was saved in my phone until I got my iPhone. Even after my parents turned off his phone. I almost put it in my iPhone but I knew that would be a little crazy).

This month I have sent my brother 2 letters and a post card. I have a 3rd envelope waiting to be sent, but I ran out of stamps so it just sits on my desk. But for #7 this month I am ON A ROLL! It does help that I’ve been sending him pictures of the progress of the house and whatnot, but still it is something and he enjoys every bit of them. It’s really cool that he gets to share in my excitement over the house and see it every step of the way just like we are. He isn’t being left out of life even though he’s in prison. I’m really glad that I’m making a better effort to write him even though we talk so often that we hardly have anything to write about. But this is just as good because he can see what is going on and not just hear about it. I love how excited he is about this house and how happy he is for me, but I’m not going to lie I really wish more than anything that he could be here to actually see it in person. It’s really hard to go through something so exciting without your sibling. Especially when it’s just the two of you. Only two more years. We’ve made it through 3 1/2 and we will make it through the next 2.