Yes, I do have a younger brother if you can call it that. It is my identical twin brother (yes, it is hard to imagine that God would create two good looking guys in this world but He did!!!). Actually, God saw a good thing when I was born so he "borned" another guy who looks a lot like me!!!!
Me with my Bro Steve!
But I also have an older brother. Steve is 5 years old than "the Twins" as we were called! Man that gig got old. "The Twins did it Mom!" "Where are the Twins?" "The Twins broke it!" "Who gets the twins tonight?!!!" Gee thanks! When I was a little kid my dad said I came inside from playing and said to my parents, "That other Mark hit me again!" Talk about an identity issue way back then.
Steve shared a bedroom with "The Twins" so it was a fun room. We used tennis rackets and socks and played baseball games in our room. The floor was wood so it was great for sliding!
I remember Steve got a new bed. Actually it was an old bed from the old lady across the street but hey it was new to him and to us. Well, we noticed one night as my other brother Tim (the other twin) and I were playing in the bedroom. Tim started jumping on Steve's new bed and I soon followed. First one of the slats broke that held up the springs and mattress. Then another broke, and another, and another until there was only one board left holding up the springs and mattress. Tim and I who apparently shared the same brain back then and got this great idea to get the bed and mattress set up again even though it was supported by only one slat of wood! Well, needless to say, Steve came home from a tough day of sports at school and came into the room and feeling exhausted he threw himself on the mattress and naturally the last slat broke and the mattress and springs fell through to the floor. Tim and I got real quiet at that point and Steve said, "OK, what do you guys know about that?" The three of us started laughing and laughed and laughed. I knew at that point that I had a cool older brother!
Every summer us three boys and our spouses get together for a long weekend reunion. We always have a blast sharing old stories, watching old Andy Mayberry reruns and making fun of old westerns on TV. I asked Steve one time how he put up with living in the same room with Tim and me and his response was, "Well, you probably didn't notice but I didn't spend a lot of time at home for a reason!" Ouch, now that hurt!!!!
But one of my favorite stories of my two brothers was the time we were living in the parsonage (that is a house the church provides a Baptist minister and his family). We had a TV room and were watching one of the original episodes of Andy Mayberry. It was the one where Aunt Bea makes pickles and for some reason they were terrible even though normally she was a GREAT cook. So not to hurt her feelings, Andy, Opie and Barney ate one dill pickle after another. The entire program you could hear "crunch" again and again. In fact at one point Steve said, "Man, I don't know about you guys but I could use a good dill right now!" So we raided the pantry and found a very large jar of dills and took them into the TV room and ate and ate. Afterwards when we noticed we had nailed that jar of pickles, we also had wonderful sour stomachs. I couldn't eat a dill for months afterwards!
I seldom eat a dill pickle and not think about my two brothers and those great times together! This summer, the 6 of us are getting together at our house and they are going to help me finish a basement project I have wanted to do for sometime! It will be a great time together. And the nice thing is our wives like each other as much as the brothers enjoy being together.
Markus
No comments:
Post a Comment