People we love: Patrick edition

Every so often I try to write a blog post showing our love and appreciation for various people in our lives. Unfortunately, it has been awhile since I last blog-appreciated someone, so today is the day.

I chose Chris' brother Patrick for this particular shout-out. We are lucky enough to live a mere 2 1/2 hours from him rather than the hundreds or thousands of miles we live from the rest of the Bissonnettes. Patrick is in the air force and stationed at Travis Air Force Base, so he is also gracious enough to come up our way to see us knowing that there are few places to let our young children roam, play, and nap if we make the drive to see him. Purely from a mother's standpoint, the fact that Patrick is willing to make the drive to save us from ruined naps and tired, wild children running around is enough in my book to deserve appreciation and recognition. There is, however, much more that makes Patrick special in our book.

I mentioned that he is in the Air Force right? The military is for the most part, a rather thankless job. Sure, people give you facebook shout-outs on military holidays, but the fact of the matter is that people in the military give up a lot and risk their lives to keep us all safe. That is a HUGE sacrifice. We try to pray often for our men and women in uniform, but most especially Patrick. We also let Kayla make fun little crafts for him from time to time. God bless America!

Patrick is engaged to a beautiful young lady from Florida with a really great name-- Laura. We have been able to meet and get to know her a bit on several occasions since we live within a do-able driving distance of Patrick. They are both amazing people with a love for adventure, the Lord, and each other. Laura gives me hair tips because she is a licensed hair stylist. I am getting more and more excited as I get to know Patrick's Laura to have a new sister and one that even shares my name. We still aren't sure if we will be Laura #1 and #2 or if we will be referred to as Chris' Laura and Patrick's Laura for the rest of our lives, but in a matter of months there will be another Laura Bissonnette married to one of the Bissonnette boys.

I mentioned that the two of them like adventure. Patrick takes adventure to a whole new level, however with some of his hobbies. He spends a good portion of his spare time right now hiking up mountains, visiting National Parks, and skydiving. He also builds and shoots rockets and studies the stars through his telescope. After he gets out of the military, he has plans to become a meteorologist. When I first met Patrick, he was still living at home in Cincinnati. He offered to show me some of the stars through his telescope, and I was absolutely amazed at his knowledge on the subject. I wasn't surprised when he took skydiving up as a hobby. He's on his way to becoming a licensed skydiver, too, from what I understand. I wouldn't want to do it myself, but I admire that Patrick doesn't let fear stop him from doing things and has the motivation to stick with things. We also think he's a little crazy...but who isn't? Would you do this?

I mentioned that Patrick is crazy right? Well, in addition to being crazy, he is really goofy too. I think that a bit of Elise's ability with facial expressions comes from Patrick. He is not one of those people that plasters on the same big smile for every picture. Nope, he's got grimaces, lopsided smiles, and very often his tongue is flopping out this way or that way making him look just as goofy as he really is. Patrick is fun to be around because he's not afraid to share an embarrassing story about himself and laugh about it. He's very comfortable being himself.

And last but not least, our kids love him. Kayla is always talking about when "Pac-kik" will come visit again. She used to call him something that sounded a lot more like "pancake", but her vocabulary is slowly expanding so that things sound more like the word she is intending to say. Her love of Patrick is so great, that she has already whole-heartedly accepted "Pac-kik's Low-wa" (Patrick's Laura) as well. She even made her a special Christmas craft this year.

Elise likes Patrick too, though he had to work a bit harder with her. She is a bit less friendly than Kayla was as a baby, but only up close. As long as Mommy is holding her, she will give you smiles and coos galore. But when you try to come in and hold her yourself, she suddenly wails as though someone has pinched her. Patrick has endured several crying fits, and come out the winner. Elise doesn't mind him a bit anymore. He gets smiles whether I'm holding her or Patrick is. And that, folks, takes some talent and perseverance.

We love you Unca Pac-kik!