This photo was taken the day we dropped Shanna

off at Butler for her freshman year.

No, that's not Shanna. 

But without planning it, this is the photo we took on 

Shanna's graduation weekend four years later.

In that time Michael went from being our little buddy

to being a young man.

And without planning it or even knowing to hope for it,

Shanna and Michael's relationship went from being 

pesky little brother and annoying big sister to two people 

with a bond that can never be broken or explained. 

During Shanna's Butler years she must have 

lived in 20 different locations.

Michael helped her with quite a few of those moves.

One year Michael went down to help her move into a new apartment.

He was pretty much over the whole experience of moving

his sister and was very vocal in letting us all

know he was about done being unpaid grunt labor.

He came home from that move and said he was uncomfortable 

with the neighborhood Shanna was in and he would be 

willing to go down the next weekend to move her somewhere else. 

Shanna loves her brother so much.

In almost every album of family gatherings

 you will find a picture like one of these. 

Shanna grabs her brother, wraps her arms around him and yells

for someone to take a picture. 

This was taken the morning of Michael's wedding. 

That weekend Michael came home and said he would sacrifice 

another entire weekend to ensure his sister's safety

I realized one thing and when I look at this picture I see the rest. 

I didn't know to look for it but it happened, 

Shanna will always have the protection of her brother,

and Michael will always have his sister's heart.