Our parents were busy bees; Duke was born in the 1950s, Courtney in the 1970s
Very recently, 4 of my parent’s 6 children got together for our annual ‘Sibling Dinner’ in Washington, Pa. There was my brother Steve and his wife Ann (and their 36 year old son Stevie and his girlfriend), my sister Shawn and her husband Jim, my sister Courtney and her husband Robert.
And finally, myself and my imaginary girlfriend Hibiscus.
Our sister Donda & husband Bobby couldn’t make it, they live far away, outside of Charleston, SC. And our brother Duke (that’s him at the top) wasn’t there either. He’s been in a self-imposed exile since the age of 17 or so.
So the photo above is not from our family dinner, but from a dinner our sister Courtney had with Duke recently. She traveled all the way from Cincinnati just to see him, and I think to find some closure for issues from long ago.
For too many reasons to get into, the last conversation I had with my brother Duke (if you could call it that) was in October 1996, at our grandmother’s 83rd birthday party.
That was 25+ years ago, and that chat (strange as it was) had been our first one in 10-15 years. We were close as kids, but things ended when Duke started junior high school.
It’s strange how people can spend years with one another under the same roof, then go their separate ways and never look back. But the older I get, the more I’ve learned it happens in a lot of families. Such is life.
Anyway, I’m not even sure why I’m blogging about this. I was just very surprised when Courtney showed me that photo a couple nights ago, it’s the first time I’ve seen Duke in many years. He’s not a part of social media or anything.
Thanks again Courtney—and Duke (aka Donovan to the outside world), if you ever see this, I wish you well.
