Happy Birthday, Uncle Daniel

Yesterday was the birthday of my long-lost brother Daniel. He turned 46.

46?? How is that possible? In my head he's 20. I think I've seen him less than five times in the last 25 years, and not at all for the last 15 years. My sense is that he's become what the rest of us have become...sort of uneasy hermits...but far away from the midwest, so his hermitude is even more isolated.

I read something a while back that said that we should all make peace with our siblings, since that's the longest relationship of our lives. Longer than our relationship with our parents, which typically lasts 50 to 60 years, longer than a spousal relationship...siblings are forever.

I think I'll send a special psychic birthday message out to him:

Daniel...call your sister. I still love you, even if it's been years since we've talked. That's the good thing about family; if you skip a decade or two, all the ties still bind.