What do you like most about each of your siblings?

 My only older sibling, by about three and a half years, Greg could have easily ignored me but instead included me when I’m sure others would not.  My second-floor bedroom, in an unairconditioned house, was pretty warm in the summer, so I asked Greg if I could move down to the basement with him, and he agreed.  The other major inclusion Greg allowed was to go camping with him and his friends at their Bus, which they bought and parked along the Stillwater River west of Troy, Ohio.  A little leary at first, the group accepted me and found that having someone to drive them into town for more beer Saturday night was very useful. 

My sister Mary Rose was the only girl and just fifteen months younger than myself, so it was natural for us to grow up playing together and I remain closer to her than my other siblings.  Like our mother, Mary Rose is very sweet, kind, and giving of herself.  At one point when I suddenly needed a place to live, she opened her home to me and let me work through my situation.  Mary Rose is the thoughtful one, always the one to host family get-togethers and never forgetting to call and wish us a Happy Birthday or a Merry Christmas.  

Martin is the musician and actor of the family.  All the boys seem to have inherited our parent's desire to perform, and while all of us like getting up in front of an audience to teach or perform, Martin has taken it way further than the rest of us.  Our parents met at the Dayton Blackfriars Guild where they both acted on stage, and like our parents, he’s active in a theater group in Tucson, Arizona.  Martin, like Greg, is a lefty, and also plays guitar right-handed and jams far better than Greg or me.  

David is the youngest, two years younger than Martin, so they also grew up together, but unlike the nice brother/sister relationship I had with Mary Rose, Martin and David were quite often at odds with each other and argued quite a bit.  He’s the real programmer between us, so while I performed smaller efforts, David has delivered and supported very large and complex programs, including external websites.  


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