Have I mentioned I have a sibling?

Yesterday my brother turned 24. He is 16 months my junior. Since I was a June baby that put him two grades behind me in school but even so, I never really thought of him as younger than me. Not that I remember anyway. My family will tell you I used to boss him around and make him sit down so I could tie his shoes. They also tell a story about a slightly bigger kid pushing me around and my toddler brother running up and tackling him.

We were never much of an affectionate family but for fun my brother and I would wrestle during commercial breaks. It wasn’t as much play as actual pain. This was fun in the few years that I was bigger than him but that passed quickly and I was begging for mercy most of the time.
Other than sarcasm we did not have similar interests. He was spending his summers in baseball tournaments while I was performing Oklahoma or (insert hokey old time musical) at the closest community theater. We didn’t like the others friends. Actually, I usually didn’t much like my friends so I really can’t blame him. He was far more laid back than I was.

I drove him to school until he got his license. One time after school I didn’t stop at the end of an alleyway and my sports car was totaled on the passenger side by a van. My brother was pulling glass out of his head for days. I could have killed him. I still feel horrible about it.

When I graduated I moved to New York and he made a trip at least once a year to visit. Not so much me as the city. When he graduated he went to college in Wisconsin. It’s really f’ing cold there. Now he is an engineer and working in Chicago. He has always been a lot smarter than me. There was no chance in hell I was going to be an engineer when I had trouble with Algebra. It appeared he never had trouble with anything. What the hell?

Anyway, I don’t see a whole lot of my brother because we are busy people and don’t live very close but we have a good relationship even if we don’t bother talking for six months. I forgot to call him yesterday to wish him a happy birthday. I should probably do that now. Or just forward this link.

Happy Birthday Bro!