Happy Birthday Mike

My brother's birthday is today. When Marya, Clayton and I visited Lake Tahoe last week-end, Mike joined us for dinner. He and his wife Kim live only a few miles away in Pollock Pines. We are both moving along in age, but he looked better than I have seen in many years. While I consider myself an active person, my 2-mile daily run pales in comparison to Mike's lifestyle.


Several years ago, Kim threw a surprise birthday party week-end for Mike. A large group of us found ourselves house boating on Lake Oroville in March. It was very cold. (Marya said that standing next to me outside was like standing in front of an open freezer.) But Mike has had a tradition of water-skiing on his birthday. So Mike donned a wet-suit and water-skis. He loves to water-ski and he loves his ski-boat--the same one he has had for about 40 years.


Mike and I are the oldest in a large family. He is a few years younger than me. Nonetheless, I look up to Mike; I am amazed at his resiliency. He has personally faced numerous difficult challenges, and conquered them with style. When our dad died from a heart attack at a relatively young age (46), Mike was there, giving him mouth-to-mouth resusitation until the doctors took over. I am not sure that I could have handled that.


Matching his inclination to play hard, is his work-ethic. I remember the time when we were both in college, that I arranged for Mike to do work where I was employed part-time--Wishing Well Nursery. It was simply a janitorial job at night. But, silly me, I was worried that he might not do a good job; he did an outstanding job. I realized then that we both had values requiring maximum effort--obviously obtained from our parents. To this day, all of my siblings have a top notch work-ethic.


Mike was a Sears Auto-center manager for most of his career. He modestly called himself a glorified grease-monkey. I don't think so. Neither did any of his friends, family or customers. He took an early retirement when offered, bought an RV and he and Kim (and their cat) toured the US, pulling that ski boat. The pictures were great.



Happy Birthday Mike. And thanks for being a role-model.