"You look wonderful"--"I want to be like"--"What if?"

Grandma, Grandpa, Great Grandma, Mom, Joan, Janet and Ronald

Ronald, Janet, Joan and Dave

There are many stages of life.  A few are in the title.
A few weeks ago in church part of the message was "You look wonderful!"  The idea behind that is at a certain age everybody becomes that.  Maybe late fifties or early sixties.  The point is at some time when you meet people, when you are that age, they will say, "You look wonderful".  Of course you probably do a double take and then when you get home look in the mirror to see what transformation took place that you missed!  Why I am sure we have all gone to a funeral and viewed the body and said, "He or she looks wonderful!"  I guess that puts things in perspective.
The "what if" stage is not so much an age related one but just an anytime one.  I have had many moments like that as I view pictures of people in the family who have died.  I see pictures of Ronald (died at 28) and Janet (died at 27) and wonder "what if"
The "I want to be like _____" stage was brought to mind yesterday.  I was reading an article in the paper about two brothers who ride bulls.  The younger one was talking about broken bones and a list of injuries and the question was "why".  His answer was "I tried team sports and was not good at them but really I wanted to be like my older brother who rode bulls!"
I was 17 when my brother died.  I came home from a late late football game in October and Grandma said my folks had driven to Fargo as Ronald was very sick.  Mom and Dad came home the next day with the news that Ronald had died.  I have followed sports most of my life but I never really had any heroes from the teams.  My hero was Ronald.  As I grew up (11 years younger) Ronald seemed to be 8 feet tall.  He was smart, he was talented and he was good to his little brother.  At the age of 11 I saved up money all summer and then in early fall I gave Ronald my $10 so he could buy a baseball glove for me.  I knew he would know what kind to buy.  About that same time, perhaps a year or two later, he came home with a rifle.  He had cut the barrel to a shorter length, had narrowed the stock just for me.  It was my first firearm and I treasure it to this day.  Many blackbirds and gophers have hated that rifle!!!
Enough for today.  I think I will change gears and go with my "I'm a lucky guy" term today.  A great tennis match is starting, I still have some FP left and the weather is great.  LUCKY for sure.