Happy Birthday Fred

Since you never respond to email (subtle hint there for you bro), I decided to post your birthday wishes here, in public blogging land.

So, for those of you who are not my OLDER brother, let me tell you a little bit about him; think of it as a birthday homage to my OLDER brother. Did I mention he is OLDER than me? He is. OLDER that is.

As I may have pointed out, my brother is OLDER than I am. And, growing up, you would think that he would have looked out for me, taught me things, been a shoulder to cry on. Right? Wrong. We HATED each other. Really, until high school (and even sometimes during high school) he and I fought on a daily, if not hourly, basis. My mother, I am sure, wonders how she ever survived.

But as he got OLDER and matured some, he turned out to be a pretty decent guy. (I did not need to mature. I have always been wise beyond my years. If you don't believe me, I don't care. This is my blog. Get your own blog and you can make up your own version of the truth.) He went from being a punk, pain-in-my-ass brother to being a pretty stand-up guy. I give a lot of credit to his wife, Kathy, for putting up with him all these years. I think his meeting her and settling down had a lot to do with his growing up. That and their son, Warren, who is now (God help me) 19 years old. I used to babysit this kid - change his diapers, rock him to sleep, play Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles with him - and now he is in college. Freaky.

Back to Fred. He decided he wanted to be a cop. Interesting choice of profession for a young man who had always been *just this side* of the law throughout high school. I think it would be safe to call my brother a teenage hooligan, yet he decided he wanted to enforce the law. And he does a damn good job of it. I was very proud of him when he graduated from the police academy. I remember the night he graduated was the same night the first college theatre show I ever directed was opening. I made it to his graduation and had to skip out right after he was handed his diploma to make it over to the theatre in time for the curtain to go up.

I'm still proud of him. He and Kathy have had 2 more kiddos, Elizabeth and Erin, who are just the coolest girls that I know. They have just bought a great house in the same town our parents live in. In the same town that we went to middle and high school in. The same town that he has worked as a cop for more years than I can remember. Some of us need to move on and move out (me) and some of us are happy building a great life where they are (him). I'm happy for him. He also has a very generous spirit and is a pretty cool guy*. You know, now that he is OLDER.

And I still need him to pick me up from the airport in November, so how about you respond to your damn Email bro? (Unless you are suffering from Alzheimers and keep forgetting, which, given your age, wouldn't be shocking.)



*Unless you take long (over 12 hour) car trips with him. Then all bets are off. He and I cannot travel together by car EVER again. EVER. But the airport is only a short trip, so we should survive.