I miss my little brother Georgie Porgie. I was less than four years old when he came along to make our family complete. Big brother Billy was 2 years and 9 months older than I, so that makes me the middle child - a girl,no less.
Georgie was a beautiful little boy with big blue eyes and blonde hair. My mom would put him in his playpen on the front porch during the summer and put the task to Billy and me to 'watch the baby'. Oh great! We had other things to do and places to go to play. We did not want to 'watch the baby'. So we would pick dandelions and bring them up for him to smell, coaxing him to 'look at the pretty flowers, Georgie ... smell them', knowing full well that he would start to gag - and we would of course call mom because Georgie was gagging. We would get off the hook and Georgie would be safe and sound in his crib inside the house.
Georgie was always referred to as 'the baby' by my mom - we would laugh about it, but it didn't make any difference.
Georgie became a man and married and I no longer called him 'Georgie' ... he was George. He coached baseball little league in our home town. An avid fan of the Pittsburgh Pirates, he could tell you anything you wanted to know not only about the Pirates, but about any of the other teams in the league. His collection of baseball cards was horrendous when he was still living at home with my mom. A lot of them were lost along the way, but he could still give you any information you asked about.
George and I were separated by over 200 miles for lots of years since I moved away from home back in 1956. When I would travel home I would see him and my brother Bill, but the bulk of my time was spent with my mom. I wish now I had traveled back home more often - I wish I had spent more adult time with George and his family.
About 3 years before his death in 2005, we re-established the line of communication through the internet - email gave me back close contact with him and his family. Several times a week I'd get a short message from him which would be answered with an epistle that was really long, sharing information about my family and life.
George died in September of 2005 - and I miss him. Happy Birthday to 'the baby' - Georgie Porgie.
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