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Gerald McRaney

The most intriguing thing I can think about to write today is about a comment my baby brother said to me yesterday as he and I were working on the car we are restoring. As any of you regular readers know, my brother is a bit of a worrywort about nearly all things in life. His morose nature makes me seem like a jolly elf in comparison.

Well, as we worked, and both of us had had a few beers each and a few pipes (he was surprisingly not in one of his "filled with shame for smoking a pipe" modes) and we started to talk about old songs, old friends, old television shows, etc. He is only 41, so he is 17 years younger than me, but still, having grown up together, we have many common experiences. He remarked that I was a brother to him in much the same vein as "Rick Simon" was to "AJ Simon" from the television show "Simon & Simon".

I found this comment rather interesting. We both watched the show, albeit I was married and he was probably still in college or graduate school. But it was a show we both enjoyed greatly. "Rick" was an older brother character played by the actor Gerald McRaney, and "AJ" was played by Jameson Parker. Rick was somewhat of a gruff, "bad" seed/rebel character that contrasted sharply with AJ's prim image. The characterizations however, were only surface attributes for both were very good people who cared deeply for their families and each other.

Therefore, I found my brother's comment surprising, yet somehow fitting and actually a bit pleasant.

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