Big Brother

Two Mondays ago, I texted my brother, Craig, about meeting for lunch.  His birthday is on October 3rd, and we have a tradition of sharing a meal together twice a year to celebrate each of our birthdays.  This has been going on as long as I can remember, but at least 20 years.  There was nothing special about our lunch conversation.  We talked about the same stuff we always do - family, work and church.  

When we were growing up, I remember him picking on me, and when I got upset, he would say, "I was just kidding."  It made me so mad.  I don't remember any serious confrontations, but I'm sure there were some.  Later on, Craig starred as Winnie the Pooh in the local theatre, and that rubbed off on me.  We were both in several productions, but I don't believe we were ever in the same one.  We had another connection in high school.  I was in the band, and on one rare occasion he came to hear us play.  Sitting on the second row was a cute blonde clarinet player, Carolyn Bishop.  Craig made a beeline for her and never looked back.  Craig attended many more of my concerts after that and ended up marrying Carolyn before she was finished with college.  I married my high school sweetheart shortly thereafter, and that started the next chapter of our lives.  

Craig and Carolyn proceeded to have six children while Craig started and grew his film production company.  He was a tad busy.  I was working 9-5 at IBM, and had two kids, and I couldn't understand why Craig worked so much.  He was always either working or attending his kid's activities.  Flash forward 20 years.  I left the corporate world and started working for myself as a real estate agent, and I suddenly realized why Craig worked so much.  Working for yourself instead of someone else tends to do that to people.  For the most part, our busy schedules limited our visits to holidays, weddings, funerals and our birthday lunches.

As we were walking to our cars after lunch two weeks ago, Craig's last words to me were, "Give me a hug.  I love you."  Craig passed away suddenly last Sunday.  I wish we had more birthdays.