A Sunday Surprise

My brother Jeff and I excited to see Hamilton at TPAC.

“Hey, what are you doing tomorrow afternoon?” It was my brother Jeff on the phone. “I have two tickets to Hamilton. Wanna go?” “Uh… yeah!” I quickly replied.

I grew up the youngest of three boys. Jeff is the oldest and now lives in Kentucky. He’s a geek about two things: DCI and musical theater. He’s a physician and directs Campanile Productions, a really fine community theater in Hopkinsville.

The greatest gift my brother gave me was permission to be artistic. I’d watch him rehearse his drum major moves and rifle technique for his high school marching band. “Jonathan, come sing this song” he’d say as he’d practice the piano accompaniment to the love theme from Ice Castles or whatever else was in the piano bench. “Jeff, let’s do tricks!” I’d beg during a TV commercial break. I’d head into the kitchen to get a head start and run into the den to dive into his hands in my best Superman formation while he lifted me overhead, spin me 360 degrees, and drop-catch me before setting me back on my feet. What was this? Gymnastics? Cheerleading? Dance? I’ll tell you what it was: super fun and I could not get enough.

So, I saw musical and artistic interests and pursuits as perfectly normal and completely acceptable because Jeff, my piano-playing, Superman-lifting, band-geek brother was the coolest.

He still is.

Oh yeah, and Hamilton is not bad either. 😉