There Once was a Little Boy Named Stevie...

So, I told you that if I kept writing that I would be compelled to include the occasional piece about my family. They will just make for such great material. I could tell you about the time that we all came home to find that my dad had spray painted the words "Reptilian Brain" on the wall of the garage in cherry red. Or I could do a sentimental piece about how my mother befriended a lonely old man and was truly his only happiness in the 5 or so years before his death. I could.... but today I have another story to tell. Today, I will tell you about my brother.

My brother is often left out in the details of my family because he appears to be so normal. I mean really. This is a guy who would get embarrassed if we raised our voices to anything above a whisper in front of our house. He just doesn't like to draw attention to himself. Never has. But the mask of normalcy belies a depth of wit and humor that I have not seen in anyone else. He is without a doubt the funniest person I have ever met - and I daresay that I will ever meet again.

Family gatherings with Stevie (and oh, how he will hate that I am referring to him in the diminutive - once again - it calls attention.) were probably the best. I would always choose a seat next to him and just listen to the observational humor that he uttered under his breath. Rumblings about how the food everyone raved about was actually not edible, about who was drunk and thought they were playing it off, about how certain members of the family always spit when they talk... It was all stuff that I just took for granted, but he was able to put it in a different lens. And so, I would listen and start to giggle. The giggles would increase to audible laughter, and the laughter would turn to hysterics. I spent many a Thanksgiving trying to figure out how to not let anyone see that I had literally peed my pants. But he was so quiet. Everyone thought he was just this sweet little boy - and that I was the nut. My grandmother would always look across the table at us - me purple-faced and half out of my wits, and him dead-pan and cherubic - and say "I've never heard him say a funny thing in my life! If you're so funny, then say something funny Stevie!" To which I'd laugh harder - and he'd shrug making me look like an idiot.

Flash forward many, many years. (I can say that now that we are both getting so OLD!) He will call me and tell me stories that are fantastic. He sends me pictures and odds and ends that he finds on the internet that are genius in their ability to evoke laughter. I have encouraged him to put some of his best stuff down in writing (like how I take credit for it?) and he has started to do so on There Must Be Nothing on TV and I have great hopes that it will gain a large and thankful readership. You might stumble on the occasional F-Bomb... proceed with caution if you aren't up for R-rated material. But if that is ok, then visit and enjoy. It is my sincere hope that others will fall in love with him the way I am.