My Other Half

 

       This is a picture of my twin brother and I on the eve of our 50th birthday. It was taken, by yours truly, in the men’s room of the locally legendary Red Parka Pub, in North Conway, New Hampshire. An appropriate place, to those who know both of us well, for such an intimate moment to be captured. Two intensely intellectual individuals, with highly sophisticated minds and senses of humor, whooping it up and bonding in the seedy bathroom of a ski saloon at our half century mark. Perfect.
       The two of us celebrated our milestone event together, with some of the people we love the most on this planet. Including each other.
       Mike and I share a common, but very different, sort of defiant irreverence. Even though Mike has lead a far more mainstream life, there is a powerful, raging, unconventional river that runs through both of us. Maybe it’s bigger, wider, more pronounced, and more obvious in me. Maybe that radical unconventionality has defined my life more than it has his. But it cascades through his life just as sonically nonetheless, albeit in very different ways.
        We are very different, Mike and I. And we are very much the same. Depending on who you ask, we either look a lot alike or hardly resemble each other at all. We can bring out the best, and the worst, in each other. At times, we are like oil and water. And sometimes, we are like two halves of the same beautiful, unique, madcap coin.
       Our relationship is at once complex and simple. Our love for each other both understated and obvious. Our interests are as different as night and day, but with a huge common intersection that provides us with endless opportunity for discussion, connection, and the sharing of ideas. Our ideologies are in some ways as far apart as the north and south poles, yet still just the other practically mirrored sides of the same earth.
       There was a time in my life when I wouldn’t think of celebrating my birthday without my twin. And there was a time when I couldn’t imagine celebrating my birthday with him.
       I will never again allow anything in my life to get in the way of my relationship with my twin. Although I have always cherished him, I have learned the value of our connection the hard way. Through a process that I can’t even describe or recant at present. It doesn’t matter. As it would be if I were missing a limb, or a lung, or a kidney, or a piece of my soul; My life is somehow incomplete without him.
       I have always wanted something deeper, something bigger, something more, something along the lines of a cosmic connection, with Mike. Maybe I have that but don’t realize it. Maybe I don’t have quite that, and never will. It doesn’t really matter anymore. Because what I have is beautiful. And special. And unique. And precious. And priceless.
       There are about half a dozen people in my life who I would, literally, take a bullet for. Mike is at the top of that very short list.
       I love you Mike. With every fiber of my being. With every drop of blood in my body. With every note of music in my heart. With every ghostly specter of my soul. With every thing I have ever been, everything I am now, and everything I will ever be.......  


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