He was a little skinny shrimp.....a blonde...a brother. He came into my life at age 9 and a 1/2.....
I remember my Mother and her introduction to me of my budding unborn brother. She called me to her and held my hand on her swelling belly and I felt his kicks against her.....That was amazing to me.
Then Mom went to the hospital and came home a few days later with a small, skinny, squalling little thing she called Mark.....Official name, Mark Douglas DeLand.....
I was asked to love him, and as Mom liked him...so did I...but he sure was a stinky, squalling, little mess.
Later I grew to like him as I took care of him from time to time and he grew and began to walk and talk. Due our home, with its strange configuration of rooms, he and I ended up sleeping in a double bed together.
WHAT A PAIN!.....he was this small skinny child who had eight elbows and 6 knees when sleeping. My god, but he made sleep difficult! I soon learned how to handle getting him to sleep.....He loved and laughed at stupid things I'd say....such as the names of children's books listed on the back of his prized books.....Things such as "Racketty-Boom!" sent him into gales of laughter. And so nightly I read the names of books to him and he'd laugh until tired prevailed and he'd sleep.....
ALL 8 elbows, and 6 knees!
When I was in my teens and playing tennis; trying to get in shape, I ran in the alley behind our home.. When he reached about 5 or 6 he joined me....he'd run laps on the alleyway....That was one of the times we shared as youngsters.
We grew apart....mostly due age; but also, due my move away after high school. I was 18; he, 8...
We were apart as he grew and moved thru his high school years. Then he graduated and married. His high school sweetheart. I, by then, had two kids and had moved about a good bit.
We again crossed paths when i came to Joliet, IL and was first a radio newsman and later Manager of the Chamber of Commerce. He came to Joliet and was looking for work. He ended up doing various jobs, and later they moved to Chicago where he tried various jobs again.
I moved on and went through my own crisis.....divorce and move back home and then a scant few years later off to Florida in 1978.
A few years later he moved to join me in Lakeland, FL...where he still lives. We became friends anew....So different; so alike........That is my Brother and I.
Time marches on and both have faced major changes; life events which altered what we did and where we lived. Both have kids and I step-kids......We remain Brothers...
I love you Bro.....you are the person, other than our remaining sister, I have known longest in life. You are the remnant of our family.....we pass on our genes, and we live, and eventually we die.
I'd chose no one else to be the brother you have been thru thick and thin.....You care....you show caring, and often at the expense of gain financial or otherwise.
I love you my Brother.
Always and forever.......
Family is 1st......
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