My older brother has arrived for a visit. He is my senior by seven years and is well into his retirement on two pensions and a lot of friends.<\/p>\n
We are a contrast to many.\u00a0 He never left home, just ending a two decades stint of caregiving and running the household for my mother and then our sister, who just passed a few months ago.<\/p>\n
He is respected in his community, the go to guy for car and household repair, active in the church and other community organizations.<\/p>\n
I left home at 17 and never really came back except for visits. I married , he did not. I travelled the world, survived some serious near misses , did the corporate thing, met the celebrities of our time , raised a family of my own and transplanted it to the west coast.<\/p>\n
He only envies my finding a wife.\u00a0 His big regret.<\/p>\n
This\u00a0 Sunday I took him to a local\u00a0car club event at the\u00a0 summer festival in one of the local villages. My brother is a serious vintage car guy. He owns a 55 T Bird, a 31 Model A and just took his first (and only new car) , a 1966 Ford Galaxie convertible\u00a0 down to the frame and rebuilt\u00a0 every bolt and metal piece back to showroom condition.<\/p>\n
He walked the line of cars in the 100 degree heat, and commented to me “There are no real T Birds here, they are all past 1970”.\u00a0\u00a0 (To him, a “real” Thunderbird is 1955 , 56 or 57 only.)<\/p>\n
One of the club members came up and said\u00a0 “We have a few, but with the heat today , the owners are too old to want to handle the day. They stayed home.”<\/p>\n
My brother thought , and gazed down the row of Mustang Mach 1s and GTOs, the Chargers and the Camaros. He said, “I guess guys restore the cars they always wanted when they were kids.”<\/p>\n
I looked at him and remembered the crew cut, the Buddy Holly 45s he owned, the beater 51 Pontiac that was his first car and knew he spoke the truth.<\/p>\n
A man’s youth is the fountain of\u00a0 his dreams.<\/p>\n
He and I , we took two different paths in this world. We look at each other and wonder what we missed. We do not wonder long and go our way, firmly set upon the paths taken.<\/p>\n
My older brother has arrived for a visit. He is my senior by seven years and is well into his retirement on two pensions and a lot of friends.<\/p>\n
We are a contrast to many.\u00a0 He never left home, just ending a two decades stint of caregiving and running the household for my mother and then our sister, who just passed a few months ago.<\/p>\n
He is respected in his community, the go to guy for car and household repair, active in the church and other community organizations.<\/p>\n
I left home at 17 and never really came back except for visits. I married , he did not. I travelled the world, survived some serious near misses , did the corporate thing, met the celebrities of our time , … Continue reading