“Love one another with brotherly affection. Outdo one another in showing honor.”

Romans 12:10

I have to say this up front, that I was blessed with two wonderful parents and three great siblings. I very much love all five of them. My parents did everything they could for me, giving me more opportunities in life than I deserved. Thank you, Mother and Daddy.

My siblings – Jean, Joe, and Sam – always looked out for me. They have always been there for me. I can imagine when I was little Mother and Daddy telling them to “Watch out for Charlie.” And “Make sure Charlie doesn’t get hurt.” They looked out for me then, always did, and frankly, they still are looking out for me now. I appreciate all three of them.

Jean

My sister Jean was a positive influence in my life.   For one thing, she reinforced what Mother was teaching me. Things like reading, spelling, keeping things in order, manners, etc. 

When I was just a little guy, I tried to keep up with Joe and Sam at times, but there were other times that I just wanted “shelter from the storm.” That’s often when I would go to Jean’s room. She would let me hang out there. She had a record player. My first favorite song that I can remember was “Puff the Magic Dragon” by Peter, Paul, and Mary. When I came to her room she would play that song for me.

Jean would get me to try new things. I particularly remember her teaching me to like raisins. I didn’t want to try them, but she convinced me to just eat two or three a day for a few days, and then see if I liked them or not. So I did, and after a few days I started liking them. I will never forget that lesson. I learned that there are so many things in life you maybe don’t like or think you won’t like, but if you give it a try, maybe you will. It taught me to be more open-minded and adventurous, and probably healthier. I certainly think I owe a lot to that lesson. Thank you, Jean.

We enjoyed reading the comic strips together (what we called the “funny papers”), especially Peanuts. Jean fancied herself to be a little like Lucy and me to be like Charlie Brown. As opposed to the way that some people teased me about Charlie Brown and losing, Jean was never mean-spirited about it. It was kind of like our own little joke between the two of us, that we had a connection and could laugh together about Charlie Brown and Lucy.

Jean says that I was always the swing vote. If the four of us were deciding what TV show to watch or what game to play together, or whatever else, it was often what Joe and Sam wanted vs. what Jean wanted. If I sided with the other boys, it was three against one. But if I sided with Jean, it was two against two, and she would often prevail.

The Five-Year-Old Standard

I do not know how badly I behaved as a small child, but my guess (based on the vague inklings and recesses of my memory) is that it wasn’t pretty. One thing I do remember is that when I turned five, my parents and siblings took the opportunity to break me from some misbehavior. You could call it the “five-year-old standard”.

It went like this. After my fifth birthday, any time I started to act immature or misbehave, the chorus was that five-year olds did not do that. That was behavior befitting only a three- or four-year old. I was bigger than that now. They were unanimous about it. The conspiracy worked, as I recall. I had to agree with the logic. If it was behavior that my older siblings did not exhibit, then I would have to change at some point before reaching their age. It just happened to be, as they informed me, that the change point was age 5 for all such things. Huh. It made some sense. So, no longer could I insist on having a certain spoon, or toy, or something special to eat. I was one of the big kids now.

As I recall, Jean, in particular, was very aware of the rules as to what a five-year old did and did not do. She instructed and educated me. I was so fortunate that she was there to guide me. I had known that three was a magical number, but now I learned that five was pretty special, too. Who knew?