They were both older than me. By the time I started kindergarten they would have been in high school. They took their turns working at "The Little Red School House" which was the unofficial name of the little diner down the road from their house. All the kids in that family took a turn working there, I do believe. There were six of them all together.
I never had trouble keeping any of the other kids straight. There was the dark haired older boy and three sisters. The oldest sister was probably 15 yrs old when I was born. The middle one was probably 13. Their baby sister was just 4 when I was born.
But those two middle boys, both with blond hair were hard for me to tell apart.
Eventually as they got older I could tell them apart. One went off to the Marines and later got married. The other stayed here. He didn't marry or have kids of his own. But he came to be known as "Super Dad" to a bunch of kids over the years.
This one, the younger of the two known as "That Boy" was a mechanic. He took excellent care of my car for me when I was in college. When the dealership he worked at closed, he shifted his career to work full-time as stage crew.
It was in that role he became "Super Dad." At one of the summer musical productions put on by students from all of our high schools, it was noted that this one dad was there all the time and he seemed to know something about everything that went on in the musical. The kids asked "who's dad is that?" And then the found out he wasn't anybody's dad. . .but they called him "Super Dad."
We lost him over the weekend. Words are so difficult. It shouldn't have turned out this way.
He made a mean potato salad.
He loved to play pranks (especially as a kid who knew all too well that ketchup was a great substitute for blood, right?)
He loved his family.
He loved IU basketball.
He loved his mom.
And we miss him terribly.
May he rest in peace.
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