"Had to be there"

I've been doing a lot of communicating with a good friend up in Philadelphia in the last week or so trying to get info on how my brother is doing. I spoke with my brother about two weeks ago, and he said everything is fine, but he didn't sound too good.

He's had a lot of medical problems the last few years, and on top of having two mini-strokes and type-2 diabetes and angina, I found out through my friend he's got a lot of other shit wrong too. The last time I saw my brother was back in March when I went up to Philly for a visit and he looked like shit then. He's 49 and looks like he's 79.

So, needless to say I've been doing a lot of thinking about him lately and found a t-shirt with this picture on it, and I had to laugh. I've ordered on as it's sure to cheer him up a little bit because it's a long-ongoing inside joke with myself and him.

One of those "Had to be there" jokes.

I'll explain.

About a year after I was discharged from the Army, about 1988 my brother and I decided to buy ten acres in Tioga county Pennsylvania and have a hunting cabin built. It was right in the middle of some of what was then the best whitetail deer hunting in the state. Who cared if it was 240 miles away? Gas was only 76 cents a gallon then.

So we bought the place and had the cabin built. We had a huge fire-ring in front of the place, and the first weekend we stayed at the cabin, we decided to have a bonfire, get really and truly well lubricated and sit up til the wee hours of the morning telling stories and generally have a good time.

Well past midnight, when our livers should have been going into shock, my brother looked up at the full moon and said:

"You know Tommy, we should blow up the moon!"

I had no idea where he came up with that, but being what my Aussie 'Mate' Eddie in Adelaide would say "I was far into me drinks" and went along, and the plot just snowballed. As the evening wore on, the ideas grew more outlandish and Rube Goldbergish.

I can't remember what our reasoning was to blow up the moon, but it was pretty deep and meaningful at the time.

So now, every time we talk to one another, the question is "So, what are you doing this week end?"

"Ah, nothing really, do a little food shopping, blow up the moon, see a movie..."

So now we have a reason to blow up the moon!

World Peace!

Maybe not. But hopefully the t-shirt will cheer up my brother...

Copyright 2005 Thomas J Wolfenden