Happy 70th Birthday :-)

Wow, that sounds like something you'd say to a country:-)  My big. handsome brother would have turned 70 years old today if God had chosen to leave him on this earth. That part, I may never understand. I try to believe and I try to hold faith above many other things but the big guy....or gal, doesn't make it easy sometimes.  I guess when I depart and find myself sitting at the right hand of........Steve and/or Dad, then maybe I will truly be a believer... until then, a little skepticism will walk with me.
Seventeen years is not long enough to have a big brother but I have 17 years of wonderful memories. Steve was 8 years older than I and he was the best... even if he did say so himself;-)  He would pay me quarters to stay away from him....and his friends but always with a smile and always leaving me with the knowledge that he really didn't want to get rid of me but after all, he had a reputation to uphold.  I remember trips to Southern Pines and Florida every winter.  The three of us packed in the back seat while Mom and Dad smoked and motored us 1500 miles south.  I remember our annual trip to Hotel Syracuse where we had our own room and did our annual Christmas shopping. (We also shopped a bit from room service.)  I remember water skiing at the lake and he could do almost anything on skis......and off.  He's the only guy I knew who ever skied barefoot on Owasco Lake.  We'd build pyramids of skiers and ski 6 at a time behind our big blue boat.  When I was only 10, off he went to Manlius Academy to prep school..... I was never really sure what he was prepping for but he sure looked handsome in that uniform.  Next, he was off to Franklin College in Indiana... a long trip for us. When he returned home he became an underwriter for Kemper Insurance and lived in Syracuse. I know exactly how Bailee felt every time Uncle Jeff came home to visit.  I felt the same when Steve was home. Had I known we would only have him for a few more years, I'd have locked him in the attic;-)
It still makes me sad that he never had the opportunity to marry his love, Kathy, have a family and make a difference.  He would have loved my family and I would have loved his.  How different my life might have been if he were here. A little bit of us all died that night in August. A parent should never see their child die!  There was a huge hole in my Dad's heart that never mended.  It was nearly 35 years before he would even have a conversation about Steve and then it was bittersweet and tearful.  But now, I have faith that they are up there hitting golf balls, disgusted with politics on earth and marveling at a market over 17,000. If we believe...and I'm trying...... we'll all be crammed into the car together again one day and who knows where we'll be headed!!