it’s probably fair to say that 98.4% of everything I did as a child was in efforts to be more like my brother… well, not just to be more like him. I’m pretty sure I was wanting to be completely and utterly … him.

It didn’t end with trying to look, dress, talk & act like him… this desire to be like Nicky also manifested itself in my willingness to do things. One game we played was called “what time is it” (don’t ask). Nicky would drag me around by my ankles and scream out “WHAT TIME IS IT?!” and I would like, laugh and scream with joy thinking, “maybe, just maybe he will really like me now after this session of What Time Is It”. HA.

I can still see his face above, deciding which route to take around the house.. should we go down the stairs? should we go up the stairs? It was never malicious or (too) dangerous. it just was.

Ya know, it never, ever occurred to me that I should have just given him the time.. although I’m not sure that would have done anything anyways.

Well, our padres were kick-ass in the taking photos dept, so you can count on seeing many more throwbacks. enjoy…