encourage everyone to post a picture of him/herself as a kid, to remind us of all the places we've been and all the places we've yet to be

officially encouraged. I have posted mine. Now I encourage you. I want to see your child mugs.

Up to now, I figured the continual presence on my list was my subtle encouragement (by example). Now I make it explicit.

Rightoe, goal accomplished.

This is my Mom and me, hanging out at Anderson’s Dock in Door County Wisconsin. Probably July 1975. I loved the water then (that’s Green Bay in the background) and I still love the water now. None of us live in Wisconsin anymore - my parents are in Florida, my brother is in San Diego and I’m in Manhattan Beach - so we all left, but we all stayed near the water.

I’m the elder; He’s 5 years younger than I am. When our parents split up I lived with our dad and he lived with our mom across town. Then I was off to college, then to grad school in Atlanta, where I ended up living for 9 years. All in all, we didn’t really get to know each other until recently. I moved back to Los Angeles in 2000 and discovered that my brother was an amazing guy for whom I have a deep respect. I really enjoy spending time with him; he’s witty, smart, fun, outgoing, caring and knowledgeable. We’ve gone very different ways with our lives, but we’ve been able to use our different paths to help each other out and our differences really seem to make us a formidable pair. He still lives across town, which sucks, but now at least we both have vehicles and the desire to make an effort to see each other. In fact, tonight, we’re going to a King’s game.