Seeing Melissa's post with the 3 kids on the couch brought back memories of times with my brother. He was the best brother. Well for one thing...he was so generous. On Halloween, back in the day when we still celebrated this...and honestly, the only thing we were celebrating was the loot we brought home...he would take one or two candy bars and give me the rest. I do remember being so mean to him. One time I hit him over the head with a toy rifle and when he started bleeding I knew I was in big trouble...he must have done something to make me do that, right? I used to complain at the table that he chewed too loud. I never wanted him in my room...so he used to do this little toe tap at the door....just to irritate me. Thinking back, he really had a sense of humor and certainly knew how to push my buttons. He was a really good baseball player, honestly, I tell people that had life changing circumstances not occurred, he might have been a major league player. He was that good. He could FIRE a pitch over the plate. He could also fire an apple right into the neighbors tent when they camped out in the back yard. Scared them to death. Funny. I think about him often now as we have attended some of Jacob's games. Mark was a star in Little League. A Star! He was handsome, too. My hometown had an annual May Fete. A big to do in town....we had a May Queen and court. The Queen and King were Seniors, but the court consisted of couples from 1st grade up to 11th grade. Mark was elected to be in the "court". Only the cutest boys and the cutest girls were chosen. He was a great card player. We played a game called concentration. Don't remember all of the rules, but you needed a good memory to play and he always beat me. He was so bright. Mark liked building models. He would take the most detailed ones and complete them. Every detail complete. His best, I think, were the Cutty Sark and the USS Constitution. He painted the little figures, had all the ropes and rigs - just amazing. He had to use tweezers for the tiniest parts. I recall one vacation we went on - we stayed at a Holiday Inn and he and I decided that they made the best scrambled eggs. When we got home we started making our eggs like the Holiday Inn. I think mom always did scrambled eggs in one big flat flop, but we would stir them all around to get the little chunks. Sounds so silly now. We used to chase each other through the house...One time he was chasing me and I was slamming doors behind me as I went...and the last door was to the bathroom and I slammed my thumb in the door. YIKES.We always had kittens...one was named "Nicky" because Mark had heard about "clipping ears" and he took scissors and Clipped the kitten's ear. He loved snakes and had a pet boa. What was my mom thinking? That thing scared me. Mark is a gentle giant in my mind. As the years have gone by, I have appreciated him more and more. I thank God for giving me Mark. Hand picked to be my brother. No coincidence..that God chose him for me.
