Why doesn’t my brother know the exact date of his upcoming wedding? I called him yesterday to wish him a happy 36th birthday and to find out what the wedding date is so I can think about making the arrangements to visit the Wolverine state.

He didn’t know the date.

He knows he’s going to say “I do” sometime in May of next year but he doesn’t know the exact date. So I say to him: “How can you not know the date? I guess all you have to do is show up, huh?”

“Basically,” was his reply.

I don’t think this is his subconscious telling him that he really doesn’t want to get married. He loves this chick. I just think he has other things on his mind. This is just representative of my younger brother. Very laid back, very “take life as it comes” … he doesn’t worry about a thing. Never has.

I remember when he was 13. My family had gone out of town for the weekend and he asked his best friend to deliver his papers for him while we were gone. When his friend finished the route and was headed home on his bike, he was killed by an oncoming city bus.

We walked in the door and my brother headed right for the phone to call his homeboy to make sure that the papers got delivered. My father stopped him from making the call so he could tell him the bad news. We all waited for my brother to break down. As a matter of fact, we’re still waiting. This was his best friend, after all. Everyone expresses grief in their own way. I don’t know how he expresses his. He did tell me about the time after he and his first wife split up that he had to pull over to the side of the road because he couldn’t see through his tears. So, he’s not a robot.

He’s a good guy. A great guy. I hope his fiancée realizes this and doesn’t hold the fact that he will never remember their anniversary against him.