The Baby

I need to apologize for not posting this earlier; however, my fingers were covered in chocolate after cashing in a few hundred brownie points (don't worry, I've got PLENTY) and I didn't want to get my keyboard sticky. 

Allow me to start off with a fact: Dan is really cool. No, he really is. It is, after all, much cooler in the shade than in the sun and Dan has spent over 20 years standing in my shadow. Dan is very, vey cool.

Dan came into our lives in the cold winter (shocking) of 1990, the 4th and final sibling in the Mosman bunch. Dan wasted little time grabbing the attention of all those around him. Most of our childhood home videos consist of Baby Dan lying on a blanket smiling at the camera (gag) and generally being much more cute than any of the rest of us. Granted, his competition wasn't great as the rest of us only found screen time in the form of photo bombs and the occasional crotch shot as we passed in front of the camera. Dan seemed to grow up very quickly and at a young age I remember thinking, "This kid is not afraid of anything." (He would be...) Dan would start conversations with adults and seemed to know a lot about everything - a trait he has kept with him his whole life. 

As we both got older Dan was faced with the constant pressure of living up to the lofty expectations set by yours truly. While I was gifted with natural ability (the natural ability to do ANYTHING), Dan was gifted with an unwavering drive to succeed. This drive to excel not only earned him the number one spot on my list of "Best Football Players I've Ever Seen" (also on the list are Sean Mosman, and although I've never seen the late Roy Mosman play I imagine that he was pretty great), but it propelled him to follow in my footsteps and win a state championship in the 110 meter hurdles.

Dan followed in my gold-plated footsteps and also served a mission for The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints in New York, NY where his out-going personality allowed him to learn and grow at an astounding rate. Like me he picked up the Spanish language quickly, but he had to work at it while I picked it up through just being awesome. I would read his e-mails every week and humbly think, "I taught his guy literally everything that he knows." 

Dan continues to grow into an outstanding guy and I continue to look down on him from my lofty seat in the VIP section of everyone's hearts. He works two jobs just to stay busy, excels in his classes, and runs track for Utah State University (I've been forced to gain a few pounds just to keep him in my shadow). He continues to use his drive to succeed in every aspect of his life.

While our "rivalry" has been described as "...like the rivalry between fire and kindling," or "not a contest" Dan has grown into one of my best, most fierce friends. He will undoubtedly continue his quest to be better than me, and that will be the ONLY thing that he will ever fail at. Ladies and gentlemen, The Baby.