A happy (belated) birthday to my brother, Art. Sorry, my bad for not mentioning it yesterday. I'm proud and pleased with all my family tree, from it's earliest roots to the youngest-great grandson, Elijah.
We've been around a long time, Brother, Dear. I'll take pity on you and say you're six years older than me, but I won't mention our ages. Oh, wait. That means I'm taking as much pity on me as I am on you, doesn't it?
I'm not one of those who's ashamed of my age. By the time you get to 7+ decades, what's the point of denying it? We did have one aunt whose son said she'd changed her birth date on her birth certificate so many times, it could no longer be read. I understand an actress did the same thing. Why?
Now, telling my weight is another story entirely. NOT going there. Let's go back to you, Brother, whom (who?) I'm trying to celebrate. I love it when we have long conversations about our past. We have good laughs about different things. And, we have stories that would make younger people awe struck.
How did we get along in early childhood winters without a water heater? Mom boiled water and poured it into the bathtub, adding enough cool water that made the bath pleasant rather than too cold or too hot. Remember those little gas heaters in each room, that never did much for keeping us warm?
One of the earliest memories of you is when you came to the neighbors where I was playing with friends, telling me I needed to come home. The new refrigerator arrived and we were going to make ice cubes! Before that, we had an old wooden ice box. I vaguely remember the ice man bringing a big block of ice each week. I'm sure we both have many memories of Dad letting a small stream of water run all night in an effort to keep the lines from freezing. When even that didn't work, he'd use a blow torch.
I'm sure you remember the Christmases we had at Velma's. Especially the year we were playing hide and seek in her big old farmhouse. Janet and I were hiding from you, Duane, Bill and any other male relative whose name and presence I've forgotten. We hid behind the drapes in the parlor. One of you came in the room, interrupted the adults talking, commenting you saw our shoes but couldn't find us! The adults choked back laughter until we finally had to be called from our hiding place.
Then, there was the time that Duane got a jeep that broke. You and Bill fixed it. Ran better than ever. Acted like a real jeep, climbing over books on the floor among other obstacles, rolled over and kept on going when it fell off something. Maybe that's where they got the idea for the Energizer Bunny. That jeep sure did go.
I'm sure you remember the day the house caught fire. You'd just come home from being out in the woods, when you smelled smoke. The chimney caught the wall on fire. Fortunately, it wasn't a bad one. Mr. Bowland came up and beat it out with his hands. That night, it was all hands on deck while Dad fireproofed the area where the fire started.
When I was in college, I have fond memories of you and Joan coming to the school to get me. Mom and Dad would meet us at your place, saving them the trip all the way to New York. Then, there's the time you deliberately put a diaper in my luggage when we returned from Germany because I accidentally left one at your place on the way to Germany. That's one superstition that seemed to work. You got Lisa and we got Dan.
Do you remember how Mom and Dad got their first TV? Do you remember telling Mom about your mother-in-law's TV that had a tube blow every six months until she got tired of replacing the tubes and bought another TV. We lugged that thing home and it was the family TV until Mom and Dad got tired of the same thing. I was 19 and a sophomore in college before we had a TV and pretty sure I was married before they replaced it.
Good memories, Brother. We lived in the real world, learning to cope. Mom and Dad would be proud, I'm sure.
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