This is your birthday song..

Yesterday was your birthday
I called you long distance
It was good to hear your voice, 
as always
Not long ago, 
you shared Santa's knee with me,
a black and white photo.
I look like a young Jane Wyman; 
and you, wide-eyed, age 3-4
I always felt I knew you best; 
and you pretty much understood me
You were scrawny, skinny, 
yet you were a feisty baseball player -
Speedy Gonzales
I was a beanstalk and plain. 
You stuck up for me;
I was a tattle tale 
We grew up in different directions, 
traveled dissimilar roads.
Little did we know then 
who we would be today.
Our lives were based in fiction, 
a too perfect family 
with secrets
We lived under patriarchal control  
Feelings rarely validated,
we weren't allowed 
to make up our own minds
We learned hard lessons
as teens and adults; real problems arose 
after we had our own families
Struck with facing hard issues with 
incorrect or obsolete information, 
based on wrong premises,
signals sent to us were inherently misleading
Our responses therefore,
way off base
We lacked self-esteem;
day to day life required counseling
or sublimation to one certain something
We've come a long way, 
but our children suffered some 
as we tried to break the cycle
of dysfunctionality. 
Funny looking back, 
how you loved to tease and poke me 
You gave me Indian burns, 
socked me in my upper arm
I chased you out of the bathtub 
we used to share

Then there was space and time 
between us.
We battled to get our equilibrium back.
We admire each other's talent, 
give encouragement and support
We appreciate each other's talents, 
cheer on each other's growth.
We talk things out
Yesterday you turned 65
We have a lot to look forward to still, 
if we just take care.
You with your RiverDance 
and I and my clumsiness, 
will always be friends.
When I'm gone, 
it would be so strange for you;
when you are gone it would seem 
so odd to me
But for now we celebrate, 
have a good time
You tell me your joke and I'll tell you mine,
Happy Birthday, brother.