Couldn't ya just tell that this little guy would grow-up to be a rocket scientist?All my life, by big brother has been the kind of brother everyone loves (and hates) to have. Denis always had an answer to everything. There is absolutely nothing he doesn't know and that can be a good thing but it can also be a bad thing. For example, Denis would tell me when the fun things I though-up to entertain myself would not work.
Once, when we were kids, I had this brilliant plan. I noticed that our climbing tree was the tallest thing around and that if we were to water it a bit more it would grow really tall and catch the moon as it passed over the branches. This would be cool, because then we could charge the neighborhood kids a quarter to climb the tree to the moon. (And who wouldn't want to do that?) Denis pointed-out the obvious flaw in my plan.
The moon is at least a half a mile high and there was not enough water in Dade County to get the tree to grow to that height. (We'll see about that!) So I left the hose at the base of the tree and running one night when we all went to bed. (He was right, of course! The tree didn't grow to remarkable heights. But we did end-up with the Everglades to the east rather than the west of the house by morning.)
Of course, his estimation of the height of the moon was slightly off. I am now higher than he estimated the moon to be as I sit here on a plane headed back to the United Kingdom. All-in-all though, Denis was usually right in whatever he told me (or at least I believed him to be right) and I maintain that illusion. Denis now lives with his family in Alabama where, yes, he is a rocket scientist. Today is his birthday and I wish him a great day!
Happy Birthday, Denis!
Don Bergquist - 15 August 2006 - Northwest Flight 31 at 45,000 feet somewhere over the North Atlantic
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