My Brother
I'm the youngest of six children. My two oldest brothers, John and Jack, are 13 and 12 years older than me, my sister Lezah and brother Pete are 8 and 7 years older, and the closest in age, Phillip, is 2 1/2 years older. Today, I want to talk about my brother Jack, who was second in line.
Jack would have been 66 today, had he not been murdered back in 2002. This is always a difficult day for me, but I want to share some of my memories of Jack, in no particular order.
Since Jack was so much older than I was, we didn't have a lot in common. Heck, he started college the year I started Kindergarten! He always said that when he got rich he was going to buy me a Lamborghini. He did buy me one, but it was just a model.
Jack was the kind of guy who would give you anything, if you needed it, and if he had it to give to you. When I was in college, he would give me $20 every time he saw me, which, unfortunately for me, wasn't often enough. My parents paid for the 5-day meal plan, so I was on my own for the weekends. Living with my sister my freshman year, this wasn't a problem. However, after she graduated grad school and left Athens, food on the weekends became rough to come by. I could stretch that $20 to last a month. Remember, it went a lot further back in the 80s.
One time, during my freshman year, Jack came to visit my sister and me in Athens. We went out to eat at Sonny's on Atlanta Highway, across from the mall (is it still there?). Jack had brought a friend with him, as he often did. At dinner, he told the waitress that three of us was from the same family, and asked her if she could identify the one who wasn't. She pointed to his friend and said, "This." To which his friend replied, "What am I, a droid?" We all got a good laugh from that one.
Another time, Jack lent his van to my brother Phillip so he could go get something. Phillip asked me to ride with him, so I went. Phillip took an exit off the interstate, one of those 360 degree loopy things, and wasn't slowing down enough. I told him to slow down more, and he informed me he couldn't; the brakes didn't work. "You're just now telling me?" That was a harrowing ride...
One Christmas break during college, I got a ride to Thomaston, where my sister Lezah was living. I was to ride with her down to Florida to celebrate Christmas with our parents. Well, Jack called, and he had made it as far as Thomaston, but his car broke down and was being fixed; could he ride with us? Even though Lezah only had a VW Bug, there was plenty of room for us and the few presents we had. This was the Christmas where we had a cold snap in Florida, and all the pipes froze, so we had no running water! We couldn't take a shower our last few days there. Anyway, we loaded up the car with the presents to go back, but there wasn't enough room for the three of us and our received presents. I ended up sitting in Jack's lap the entire trip back to Thomaston. It was miserable for both of us! When we arrived back in Thomaston, Lezah's pipes had frozen, and we didn't have any water there either!
I generally spent the Christmas/New Year's break with Jack. He would pick me up from UGA (I didn't have a car), and I would stay with him. One year, he didn't have much money, and was behind on rent. We ended up watching bowl games in the dark, so the manager wouldn't know we were there. One thing you have to know about Jack is that he was generous to a fault; he would loan/give you money, even if it was his last $20, so he was often short of cash. This was one of those times.
Another Christmas break, he got me a temp job working for a lawyer. Jack was installing some computer software, or building a computer system, or something. My job was to call the lawyer's clients and threaten to sue if they didn't pay what they owed to this or that company right away. Now, this was the week before Christmas, so I felt like a Scrooge telling someone that if they didn't pay the $17.98 they owed, they were going to get sued. Needless to say, that was my least favorite job, ever. The funniest thing was that they insisted I participate in the office Christmas party, even though I only worked for about a week, and they knew that was all I was going to work. I even led the singing!
That same Christmas, Jack was also helping a doctor with his computers. This doctor let Jack use his car, since he didn't have one, so we rode around in a really nice car, even though we had very little money. That was a crazy year, but we had fun!
But my best memory of Jack was that he loved to laugh and have fun. He was always there when I needed him- I wouldn't have made it through college without him. He provided me with the occasional $20 (mentioned above), picked me up from school and gave me a place to stay during breaks when I had to be out of the dorm (my parents were retired and living in Florida by then, so it was too far for them to come), and was always available when I needed help with anything.
I miss you, Jack...
Jack would have been 66 today, had he not been murdered back in 2002. This is always a difficult day for me, but I want to share some of my memories of Jack, in no particular order.
Since Jack was so much older than I was, we didn't have a lot in common. Heck, he started college the year I started Kindergarten! He always said that when he got rich he was going to buy me a Lamborghini. He did buy me one, but it was just a model.
Jack was the kind of guy who would give you anything, if you needed it, and if he had it to give to you. When I was in college, he would give me $20 every time he saw me, which, unfortunately for me, wasn't often enough. My parents paid for the 5-day meal plan, so I was on my own for the weekends. Living with my sister my freshman year, this wasn't a problem. However, after she graduated grad school and left Athens, food on the weekends became rough to come by. I could stretch that $20 to last a month. Remember, it went a lot further back in the 80s.
One time, during my freshman year, Jack came to visit my sister and me in Athens. We went out to eat at Sonny's on Atlanta Highway, across from the mall (is it still there?). Jack had brought a friend with him, as he often did. At dinner, he told the waitress that three of us was from the same family, and asked her if she could identify the one who wasn't. She pointed to his friend and said, "This." To which his friend replied, "What am I, a droid?" We all got a good laugh from that one.
Another time, Jack lent his van to my brother Phillip so he could go get something. Phillip asked me to ride with him, so I went. Phillip took an exit off the interstate, one of those 360 degree loopy things, and wasn't slowing down enough. I told him to slow down more, and he informed me he couldn't; the brakes didn't work. "You're just now telling me?" That was a harrowing ride...
One Christmas break during college, I got a ride to Thomaston, where my sister Lezah was living. I was to ride with her down to Florida to celebrate Christmas with our parents. Well, Jack called, and he had made it as far as Thomaston, but his car broke down and was being fixed; could he ride with us? Even though Lezah only had a VW Bug, there was plenty of room for us and the few presents we had. This was the Christmas where we had a cold snap in Florida, and all the pipes froze, so we had no running water! We couldn't take a shower our last few days there. Anyway, we loaded up the car with the presents to go back, but there wasn't enough room for the three of us and our received presents. I ended up sitting in Jack's lap the entire trip back to Thomaston. It was miserable for both of us! When we arrived back in Thomaston, Lezah's pipes had frozen, and we didn't have any water there either!
I generally spent the Christmas/New Year's break with Jack. He would pick me up from UGA (I didn't have a car), and I would stay with him. One year, he didn't have much money, and was behind on rent. We ended up watching bowl games in the dark, so the manager wouldn't know we were there. One thing you have to know about Jack is that he was generous to a fault; he would loan/give you money, even if it was his last $20, so he was often short of cash. This was one of those times.
Another Christmas break, he got me a temp job working for a lawyer. Jack was installing some computer software, or building a computer system, or something. My job was to call the lawyer's clients and threaten to sue if they didn't pay what they owed to this or that company right away. Now, this was the week before Christmas, so I felt like a Scrooge telling someone that if they didn't pay the $17.98 they owed, they were going to get sued. Needless to say, that was my least favorite job, ever. The funniest thing was that they insisted I participate in the office Christmas party, even though I only worked for about a week, and they knew that was all I was going to work. I even led the singing!
That same Christmas, Jack was also helping a doctor with his computers. This doctor let Jack use his car, since he didn't have one, so we rode around in a really nice car, even though we had very little money. That was a crazy year, but we had fun!
But my best memory of Jack was that he loved to laugh and have fun. He was always there when I needed him- I wouldn't have made it through college without him. He provided me with the occasional $20 (mentioned above), picked me up from school and gave me a place to stay during breaks when I had to be out of the dorm (my parents were retired and living in Florida by then, so it was too far for them to come), and was always available when I needed help with anything.
I miss you, Jack...
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