My Brother

Today would have been my brother's 50th birthday.  Wow!  Fifty years!!  That seems so old, but yet I guess it is true as I will be 45 in November.  I have written before that I worshiped my brother and followed him everywhere.  I know I drove him crazy, but I wouldn't change a thing.  I had so much fun with him those eight short years.

Tonight Meg asked me what I thought our lives would be like if Bunk was still alive.  I told her that it would be different, but I really can't say how.  I don't know if we would have ever moved to Syracuse from Nappanee.  Maybe I wouldn't have gone to IU or even met Doug.  Bunk could have seven children by now or be a teacher at their school.  I do know that Cameron and Cal would have had another uncle to play golf with, and I am sure that he would have attended all of the basketball games, musical programs and plays of theirs that he could.  I could see him hanging out with Parce or visiting LaMarr in Raleigh for some fun tailgating opportunities.  I wonder if he would have liked watching the Heinisch children play soccer.  That wasn't a sport that was much discussed when he was alive in the 1970s.  Everything seemed to revolve around football back then.  I always was curious to know his thoughts on the OJ Simpson trial.  He thought the world of him in the NFL.  Amazing how much can change in a lifetime.   I asked Meg what she thought, and she said that he probably would have moved away to get away from us.  Too funny!

I have grown accustomed to being an only child.  However, that doesn't mean that I wouldn't take him back in a heartbeat. There are times that I realize that I do not understand adult sibling relationships, because we never made it to that stage.  I used to feel cheated.  I have come to realize, however, that I was actually lucky to have known him.  He shaped who I was as a young child and made me realize how precious life really is.