COURAGE

The other day I was visiting my older brother and his wife. Sitting on the sofa talking about whatever......very pleasant. Although none of us siblings stay in touch as much as we should, as we have gotten older, we have all realized that there is a time stamp if you will...and we now talk more than we ever used to.

Although all four of us boys are different, there are some things that we have ALL had an interest in at some point in time. Cars in general springs to mind....one of us has had three or four Starsky and Hutch Torino replicas, one of us fooled around with a Chevelle and a pretty cool Torino back in the day. I am the die hard lifelong drag race fanatic and my oldest brother with whom I was visiting shares my passion for NHRA drag racing.

I remember once when I was racing a 67 Camaro there was some welding to be done and I had never done any welding....so he gave it a try and got the job done- without using a welding helmet. Burned his eyes pretty good, spent days with raw potato slices over his eyes trying to fix his eyes. The old days.....

I learned a lot from him....how to make a square braid keychain.....how to rot a muffler from the inside so that it sounds cool without buying a performance muffler (give us a break - it was the 60's).....how to body surf and live to tell about it.....Of course he became a Dad first being the oldest and he was a great Dad as his kids grew up and I just watched and learned....

Being the oldest, I guess I always looked up to him. He was cool. Very popular with lots of friends and as I grew up I turned out a lot like him as far as career choices, personality, etc. We even worked for the same company for a few years. At one point, he ran the starting line and I did tech inspections and ran the staging lanes at the local drag strip on the weekends. Remember the jet cars ? He would hit the start button on the christmas tree, turn his back and go into a fetal crouch while two jet cars kicked the afterburners and roared off the starting line inches away on either side ! Courage !

Yep, I learned much more than what it is written here and today....I am still learning and he is still teaching. We are more alike than we ever dreamed....You see, he has Parkinsons too....except with a cruel twist. On top of the PD there is multiple system atrophy. He really can't speak now...or walk...or eat (feeding tube) ...we communicate with a letter board where spells out words and sentences by pointing. We still talk drag racing and discuss whats going on in the NHRA and I keep him posted on my progress with my 69 Camaro.

As I sat there with he and his wife he still has that light in his eyes and a shit eatin grin on his face when he is amused by the conversation around him. While I was there he decided to show me the physical therapy exercises he does to try and slow the muscle deterioration. As he slowly raised his legs with the ankle weights strapped on or pulled against the rubber stretch cords while his wife held the other end and counted his repititions I was struck by the courage and determination it must take from him each day. And yet, he still has a grin and a thumbs up for me whenever I stop in to visit.

This people, is real courage. I hope he knows how much I learned from him over the years and how much I am still learning even now. As I said we are a lot alike. I don't think there is anyone else who can teach me what you are teaching me now....so keep teaching. And I will keep trying to learn and hope that I can be like you and have that same spirit and courage !

Shaaky