My brothers birthday

Never let a good time drift away. A long time ago and a few decades at that, all was right with the Universe. At least from the point of view of a kid living in the days before cable TV, home computers and video games. It was a time where playing outside didn’t require batteries. But most importantly it was the food.

One such event happened during my brothers’ birthday. Or for that matter anyone in my family’s birthday but my brothers was the most remember able. My grandfather worked at the rock quarry near Topsail Island, North Carolina. After he retired he moved back to his family home and started a small 5+ acre farm as well as raising a few dozen pigs for special occasions. And family birthdays are the best occasions for a pig picking.

My brothers’ birthday was coming up and everyone was getting items ready for the party, which looked more like a family reunion. Aunts and Uncles with cousins living miles away were coming to my Grandparents home to celebrate my brothers’ birthday. With the best part being to getting the pig ready for cooking which I won’t go into too much detail but maybe later. But it was one of the few times that waking up at 4 AM and starting a fire to get the cooker ready to cook the pig and to welcome the morning with breakfast made by grandma was the best part ever.

Biscuits made from scratch, country ham that’s not store bought, eggs from the chickens living in the chicken coop, cheese that came from a cheese wheel not squirted out of a tube, bacon that you had to slice yourself, not the prepackaged kind, sausage links that were made from the last pig. Buttered toast or biscuits with cheese in the center and a plate of thick pancakes covered with maple syrup. The kids even got a chance to drink coffee but only after we loaded it down with sugar to kill the taste.

As the pig is cooking, the men will stay outside and basically talk about anything while the women stayed inside preparing all the other food dishes. All the kids couldn’t go inside so we basically played. By evening time more relatives would show up with more food dishes and desserts. The favorite dessert of all the kids is Mississippi Mud Pie. As the time for the party to get started we would say prayer and everyone begins to eat and catch up on how everyone is doing along with all the gossip stories. But on my brothers’ birthday it was a little bit different.

As we got closer to start eating, my brother was no were to be found. It was getting later and later so we went ahead and started the party. About 2 hours later my brother called. He wasn’t going to make it to the party. The reason being is that as soon as he finished working he went straight to the beach to do some weekend fishing.

Normally some people might be upset over this but with my brother its to be expected. As a teenager he would spend every Friday and Saturday night doing night time fishing on the Surf City fishing pier. He once spent 3 hours pulling in a Marlin. After he carried it to the taxidermist he went back fishing. So years later as nearly the entire family was celebrating my big brothers birthday, he was 3 hours away on a fishing pier having the time of his life.