Introducing My TWIN & The Goose!

I heard from my twin brother today and so I feel compelled to write about him. Most people are shocked to find out I have a twin brother, Joe. And, unbelievably, I'm often asked if we are identical. Ummm, to which the answer can only scientifically and medically be no, of course. When we are out in public, we often have to drag out our drivers licenses to "prove" that we are indeed related. It's funny, even in our baby pictures he looks like a white kid and I look like somebody plucked me out of Mexico and dropped me off next to my brother, LOL!

ANYhoo, what's awesome is that even though I don't see him or hear from him nearly as often as I'd like, my brother is one of the most hilarious guys I know. He's a great dad as well, which makes me proud. When he got married and had a baby, instead of his friends going out without him they instead all just congregated at his house on the weekends, because he's always the life of the party.

It's hard because I am a bit of what one would call "the black sheep"of the family, so nobody knows what to make of me a lot of the time, which I can appreciate I guess. I'm the one who could be very successful in a business environment, but who would rather help spread the message of how to reverse cancer and other supposedly "irreversible" dis-eases, and do things like come to Thailand to learn muay thai. How many of his friend's sisters are doing that, LOL? What people sometimes DON'T see is that there is a method to my madness, and I've struggled with health personally for quite some time, whether it's acknowledged or not by others. But that's okay, we're each our own people and I respect that it's my own journey.

I'm lucky to have my brother, and I know it. Growing up was a bit intense since we were in a smaller town and were in the same class at school from 1st - 5th grade. Kinda overkill, surely, but we managed. :-)

My brother works in sales, and does extremely well at it due to his amazing personality. He's comfortable with everyone, and can put anybody at ease - even the stuffiest loan officer or grumpiest doorman.

For a couple of years he coached soccer. He taught middle-schoolers and then high-schoolers through the park district. One of my favorite stories about him is when the park district actually called him to see if he would teach soccer that year and he declined due to work issues and personal reasons. The park district literally said that they had never had this happen before, but the kids actually wouldn't play UNLESS he was their coach. Eventually, he agreed. The park district also said his team would be larger because of the amount of kids who wouldn't play for anyone but him; they didn't care if they had less time on the field. What a huge compliment!

While my brother and I have our differences, I try to think we are more alike than different, and realize that as we get older we allllllll mellow out. When people bother enough to get upset with each other, it's only because they care - although that doesn't happen so often anymore since time is so precious when we all DO get to see each other.

His son, my nephew, is named "Joseph", but I have dubbed him "Goose" since day one. The above is a picture of Joe and Goose at a Cubs game in Chicago. I could write forever and forever about the kind of kid my nephew is, but that's another blog entry altogether. Maybe on his birthday......

I will say that we raised my nephew on music from day one, because it's so important (in our family). When he was a baby I played Stevie Ray Vaughan for him all the time when I would lay him down for a nap, and soon enough I was playing Michael Jackson's "Thriller" for him (and at his request). Naturally, we introduced him at a young age to the greatest rock and roll band of all time, AC/DC. From the age of 4 I started surfing e-bay for AC/DC shirts for children, and he's received a steady stream since then. Gotta start 'em young!

The beautiful thing is, none of this is forced on him, he genuinely loves it himself. I'll never forget Easter when my brother was sick and went to bed, and Goose and I were hanging out. Goose was trying to get me to stay up later with him, saying "I have caaaanndy", it was hilarious (he was like 5 or 6; like that temptation would have the same effect on me, LOL!) He had received "The Incredibles" DVD in his basket, so I bargained with him and told him I'd watch that if he watched (some of) AC/DC "Live At Donington" with me, which I had just purchased. He was TOTALLY down since he knew who they were already, so over some nerds and starburst we totally rocked out and then watched The Incredibles, which was pretty excellent, I must admit. What a fun night!

Although AC/DC finally responded to the strong intent I kept putting out into the universe, their timing was oh so tragically off. So, they only FINALLY toured the USA during the exact dates while I was here in Thailand, in a move that caused me great and deep personal grief, right here in paradise. But my brother went, and took The Goose to his first concert, and this was his report:

AC/DC were easily the best band I have ever seen live and to share it with Joseph was priceless. He was standing on his chair pumping his fist in the air chanting...Oy, Oy, Oy during "TNT". Easily my proudest moment as a father! Joseph rocked his little face off! I can with no hesitance state that another soul has been sold to rock n' roll.

I love my family. Even if we can't agree always on other stuff, we can ALWAYS agree on music and laugh like crazy when we're together, because we all have sick senses of humor. And even though I didn't choose a corporate route, I'm proud to have their work ethic and to have been around their influence throughout my life, because I know it's had a very positive impact on me - especially as I travel America and see how some others choose to treat their responsibilities. I'm proud of their success in life, too, because nobody handed it to them, everybody earned it on their own, from scratch.

Speaking of the Goose, here's a shot of him I ADORE, with his new baby sister. I know I'm biased, but ISN'T HE JUST PRECIOUS?

And as far as my brother and I sharing a lot more in common, I guess we both can be quite the social animals, LOL! Couldn't help but to feature this, uh, "comparison". Seriously, though, WE LOOK NOTHING ALIKE, huh?