Familiar and Familial

Fun fact: Today is United Nations Day-and you probably didn't send any of the Lower Manhattan double and triple parkers a birthday card did you? Don't feel bad, they wouldn't have read it once they checked the inside of the envelope and didn't find cash or the next generation of fighter-plane or armored vehicle. Perhaps a small umbrella to help with their balance up there. I'm sure we can guess where they can store it when it's not raining.

Actually, and much more importantly, today is my brother Kelly's birthday. It is a little-known fact that he is 237 years old though his youthful appearance and childlike innocence and enthusiasm (plus a lot of plastic surgery) belie his age. Truth to tell, I have no exact idea as to his age having seen him only very sporadically since returning to the US some three decades ago. My other brother and sisters are very jealous of his good fortune. 

In a large family of children who all resemble one another  Kelly was the tall, blond kid who looked exactly like, well, exactly like Kelly. It was an interesting house growing up with a brother who locked himself in the little boy's room while simultaneously locking Mrs. Brennan, the teacher, out at Saint Peter's kindergarten in New Brunswick. I have a memory of her calling the house and our Mom speaking into the telephone in an attempt to coax Kelly out. I believe he eventually decided to exit of his own accord.

But years before that I recall sharing a bedroom with Kelly and by the dawn's earliest light he would awaken, stand up in the crib, clutch the rails, and shout exuberantly, 'Everybody up! Kelly's belly empy!' launching a frantic feed the child effort not seen again until Jon and Kate Need to Roller Skate Instead of Mate on TLC. 

Kelly might have had a career as a physicist since at a very early age in a finished basement in the house on Bloomfield Avenue he managed to flip over a massive TV console (those barge-like furniture stylings that said 'muricah in the early 60's) trying to retrieve a toy car that had rolled underneath it despite the complete absence of leverage or a fulcrum. If only we hadn't lived in a universe with a yellow sun? Perhaps just as well; he has always hated tights.

As it is, Kelly in this universe is more than a terrific deal for his spouse, children, and grandchildren not to mention the members only contingent composed of his brothers and sisters. I have no idea how he plans to mark his natal anniversary but I can safely assume it will be both stellar and steadfast-like the celebrant.
-bill kenny