It's time to celebrate the birthday of the "original" Buddy, born on St. Patrick's Day. It is so appropriate that his favorite color is green - you rarely see him in anything else!  I call him the "original" Buddy because somehow I call all of my brothers Bud or Buddy now as nicknames.  Gene-O and Dude are also appropriate names for him in my book.  Being that we're only fourteen months (and some change) apart, we've always had a special bond. We played together quite a bit as children and shared many of the same friends.  He is definitely a one of a kind guy, who else could have put up with being in the middle of six girls and waiting so long for a little brother to arrive?  Although I know we all agree Jacob and Nathan were 100% worth the wait!

Gene is also one of the best people I know.  He is ALWAYS willing to come help whenever we need an extra hand on the house or yard; he's always so generous with his time and service to everyone.  He is a gentle, calming influence on me (and several other Spencer girls who can get a little overexcited at times), always supporting and never making me feel judged, just loved.  We started going out to lunch on Mondays because he lives out near my work in the Valley and has the day off.  It has become one of the things I look forward during the week because it gives us the chance to sit and talk uninterrupted.  Gene is also one the most intelligent, smartest people I know, but he doesn't go around arrogantly wearing it on his shoulder.  Our rides back and forth to Mom and Dad's house in Pullman are usually spent with him and David discussing politics, current events, computers, music, or a myriad of subjects in-depth - they always try to include me but I usually feel left behind pretty quickly!

Hands down, the Uncles take the cake in our family when it comes to our nieces and nephews.  (I say this without any bitterness because I adore them myself!)  Whenever Gene walks into a room, you will generally hear a young voice shriek "Gene!" and zoom across to him for a hug.  He is always ready to tickle, laugh, tell jokes, or snuggle/walk the babies to sleep.  When our younger siblings were babies, it wasn't just the girls who wanted to hold and rock them - Gene was right there in line, always!

Well, Spencerphotophobiaitis is well and alive in Gene.  It's amazing, frankly, that I found as many good pictures of him as I have because he likes to make insanely icky faces in pictures. (And I know he does it on purpose just to get my goat!)   Believe me, the one below is tame for him and apparently the tendency has rubbed off on Nadine in that one, too...