THE ARNOLD BOYS!

left to right Terry, Sam, Jim

Observation of the Day!

Like the first cardinal rule for the older generation, never pass up an opportunity to urinate, so goes the rule about getting together with your brothers whenever you have an opportunity. The Arnold boys were able to do that in Tucson last week.

The Arnold boys are known by our self-given name as the three Asjoles. Our wives have told us for years that we all have a common Arnold Asjole gene. We agree and are not offended. We have fun with it. We agree that for whatever reason, we can be major asjoles at times. It's a genetic thing.

We share other things in common:

1.We have all been very successful in our careers. We all exceeded our grandest expectations. We often wonder how we did it. Our parents were very good middle class parents, but far from achievers. I don’t think our parents ever quite understood what we did, especially me. All they knew was that I had a good job, moved a lot and traveled a lot.

2, We all married wives with similar personalities. They were all first-born.

3. The Arnold boys all have similar senses of humor. Whenever we are together, we laugh a lot.

4, Unfortunately, we all have quick tempers, but recover quickly. We are sometimes too loud and yell to much. We all swear way too much.

5. Even though we live far distances apart, we keep in close touch.

6. We often have too little patience and irritate each other, and there have been short periods when we were on the outs with each other. It never lasted long.

7. Unfortunately most of the male progeny have inherited the Asjole gene. It doesn’t take a stranger long to understand we are related.

It is good to be brothers and good that we are still a family. It is hard for me to understand it any other way. Doe, Sandra and Ruth all have close relationships with their siblings. Tim and Mark do not resemble each other in any way, and hardly ever speak to each other, even though they live in the same town. This is hard for Doe and I to understand, when our sibling relationships are close. What did we miss in their up-bringing? I guess it is a mystery of family life.

During the weekend together, we played golf. Terry was actually the best golfer when we were kids. He was on the high school golf team. He is quick to point out, however, they 0-10. Despite Jim and my urging over the years, he didn’t take up the game again. Then all of a sudden he decided to try again. Our round of golf n Tucson was only his second in over forty years. He actually played pretty well. He shot 111, with a few mulligans.

Jim and Terry drove their cart into the desert and got stuck in the sand. Of course Jim got mad at me because I was taking a picture rather than helping. What an Asjole!

On Monday we went our separate ways with memories of a wonderful family get together. Do it while you can.

Have a nice day!

Sam