Walt. & Birthday Musings

 I hear stories sometimes about siblings who didn’t get along when they were growing up. Due to age difference, rivalry, incompatibility. Or something. I’m glad to say that was never the case for my younger brother, Walt and me.  Even with our 4 year age difference we had a special bond from the day he was born and made his very welcomed entrance into the world September 4, 1954. That’s right. Today would be my brother’s 71st birthday.  He’s been gone 15 years. I wonder what he’d look like now, and the timber of his voice, and what he’d be doing in retirement.  It seems to me Birthday’s are to celebrate, and look back; to recall other birthdays and milestones. So today I celebrate my brother, and remember fun, happy years together.  

                                                                                                    

              

When we were very young we shared a bedroom. Well, you might say Walt shared a room with me and my dolls. We played with the same neighborhood kids - Linda and Debie, Richard and Lauri and Pam building forts in the vacant lot at the end of the cul-de-sac, played school in Lauri’s driveway, Hide n Seek and Freeze tag. And with our bowl of cereal and Oreo cookies Walt and I would watch Saturday morning cartoons  and the Roy Rogers show together. Roy Rogers was Walt’s favorite. He had a Roy Rogers cowboy shirt, a Roy Rogers hat and holster; and to this day his Roy Rogers guitar is still tucked away downstairs. Walt liked Roy Rogers so much he even started telling people his name was Roy Rogers! 

                                                     

                                        

Through the years we continued to play games - Monopoly, Clue, Cribbage, Ping Pong and watch TV together. And listen to records.  Mama would say one of her favorite things was listening to Walt and me as we sat on the living room floor laughing and giggling, playing some board game.  I believe the reason Walt and I were close, and got along like we did was because of the loving environment our Mother created, her joyful spirit and guidance to always be good to one another. Mama worked hard to provide for Walt and I. When she walked in the front door at 5:30 each weekday she didn’t  want to hear my brother and me squabbling. And I can say with great certainty, she never did. 

The Christmas before our parents divorced Santa brought me a brand new pink and white Schwinn bicycle. Walt got a bike, too. My old one. I remember Dad took a lot of time cleaning it up, painting it red and putting new grips with streamers on the handlebar. A few years later Walt would get a brand new bike for Christmas. One year a red Stingray, the following year a Schwinn 10 speed. It was pearlesque green. By that time I was in the 8th grade and had outgrown the pink and white bike so would often borrow my brother’s cool 10 speed to go riding with classmates from St. Rose. Lucky me, my little brother always so generous in allowing me to use his prized bicycle. 

As we got older our chores increased. Walt and I would take turns doing the dishes. Or sometimes we’d both do them, Walt would wash and I would dry. Or vice versa. Only on occasion because of our silly antics did a dish get broken. Mama taught me how to iron (although Mama still did most of it), but because  Walt didn’t like the way I ironed his shirts he started ironing his shirts, and some of my blouses! He did do a much better job of it, too. For a while we didn’t have a washer or dryer so we had to bag up our dirty clothes, towels and sheets and take them to the laundromat around the corner from where we lived. It was walking distance. It seems a funny family outing now, Mother, brother & sister trekking to the laundromat. But that’s what we did. We’d do two or three loads at a time. When the dryer cycle ended each of us would fold clothes. If it were a movie musical I’m sure we would have been singing a song and dancing on the washing machines, but instead we just chatted back and forth. Looking forward to the day we’d get a new washer. 

One of my cherished memories, long  before we all left California is  Walt and Patty, Gary and me playing marathon games of Ping Pong on a warm summer night in Mom’s garage. Seals & Crofts on the radio singing Darling if you want me to be closer to you, get closer to me… It was such a sweet, happy time. Each of us full of hope and dreaming big. 

I miss you, Walt. And all we shared. 

Happy Birthday little brother