Tuesday, November 24, 2020
Jim was the best big brother! My big brother taught me how to ride a bicycle. He had held onto the seat of his bicycle while I struggled to ride: he ran around the entire block as I slowly learned to balance on the boy?s bike. Jim taught me how to hold a bat with the label side towards me, how to kick a kickball accurately, how to place my hand along the seam on a football so I could throw it straight. He demonstrated how to dig a small hole in the ground, bury a few potatoes, and build a fire over it in order to bake potatoes. Jim made me a rubber gun so that I could play Cops and Robbers with the neighborhood children. Two pieces of wood were shaped something like a gun. One would load it with rubber strips cut from an old inner tube. It stung when one was hit by the rubber strip fired by another child. But I wanted to play, and to be part of the Big Kids? game. Jim saw to it that I could. In the winter time the city of Albert Lea would block off the three block long hill that ran beside our house. Snow covered, it was a fantastic place to slide! Jim would let me ride on his Radio Flyer sled: sometimes I?d lay on top of his back, sometimes we?d sit upright. I?d be in front so he could hang onto me and to steer with his feet. He got to steer: after all, he was the big brother. I proudly watched my big brother march in a junior high band. He played the cornet. Sometimes I?d attempt to do so also by following his Beginners? Book of music. All three of us took piano lessons. Once our older sister. Anne, complained, ?Pat, you and I have to practice our piano lessons. Jim just sits down and plays!? I don?t think he realized how much musical talent he had. After we moved to Minneapolis, I enjoyed watching Jim play senior high basketball in the Minneapolis auditorium. For a long time I held onto a faded newspaper clipping about him and his basketball skills. ?Did Grand Dad ever move fast?? Harrison asked me not long ago. Remembering his ball games, his tennis, his running, I answered, ?Oh yes. He was fast.? And he still showed concern for his younger sister on the last day I saw him in January. As we were saying good-bye, he said, ?I want you to start driving to Sacramento before the fog moves in.? I have lost my beloved brother. I still have my memories, and I know, his Love. Vi ses, Jim. We?ll see each other. Your loving sister, Pat
