And Then There Were Two

Yesterday night my youngest brother landed in California ready to start a new job and new life. Just last month he was sitting in an arena listening to speeches from a clueless kinesiology student, random honorary graduates and the university president which he really didn't like too much. However the final talk by David Bing, a former Pistons basketball player, was very sincere and in many ways enlightening. Mr. Bing said that one of his coaches once mentioned the "5 P's" to him: "Proper Preparation Prevents Poor Performance". I liked it. Unfortunately my brother in his quasi-euphoric mindset wasn't really paying attention.

After a few days of hurredly packing 2 suitcases, a dozen cardboard boxes and plenty of last minute shopping all was done. Not much time to relax, not much time for anything I guess. Oh the irony.

Anyways, I'm not in any position to exclaim my great accomplishments (or lack there of), but I know my brother knows he could have done a little bit better in the past few years. I know I did my best to encourage him (the iPod incentive failed miserably), but realistically I knew he was not too much different than me. Except for the fact that he had more avenues for advice, better car to drive, high speed internet, his own computer, cooler stuff and a guitar. Of course, not that I'm jealous or anything ... but ANYWAYS, before he left I made sure to tell him the important stuff.

I started off by listing all the things he forgot to do, and that it pretty didn't matter much anymore. But the one thing I made sure to express was that he could now put aside all the fumbles and missteps of college and other disappointments. He was given a clean slate. Just that he should realize that even though there are plenty of mistakes to be made, he's now free to finally pursue something real. Who cares what, perhaps playing a (seldom used in 3 years) guitar, a sport, grad school, community service, perhaps a real hobby (collecting beer bottle caps and key chains don't count) - just that he should have something to show for himself.

This isn't about me, but sometime at the end of 2003, I told myself that I wanted to redeem myself, not like some wrongfully accused man in Shawshank but just more along the lines that I had too many regrets. I honestly want my brother to feel that when he gets older that he did something productive with his time. Of course you can always lead a horse to water, but you can't make him drink (or her, I'm not sexist). I doubt he'll do all the things he promised, but then again neither did I.

It's funny I write this in the first person, but the target audience is specific. ... Yeah. I'll miss him.

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