Phil and I were brothers, even though we had "different" last names. Dad needed his birth certificate to work in defense plants in WWII (after Phil was born, but before I was) and it was discovered that an "s" had been inadvertently added making us the the only brothers (there were 4 of us) who had the same father and the same mother but different last names. That is the official reason, but Phil had one that he liked to use which was that he had tried an unsuccessful business venture and lost his "s."

Phil called me one night and said that he had had the weirdest dream that I was driving down the street in a car with a giant ice cream cone on top. Phil was my big brother so I usually took what he said very seriously. I got excited and told him that I had an interview the next day with Baskin-Robbins and this had to be a sign. He laughed and said that he had interviewed with them earlier that day and the guy pulled my resume out instead of Phil's. Obviously, Phil went onto a great career with BR and I spent 30 years with Whirlpool trying to get ice cream stains out of people's clothes.

Being 10 years older than me, Phil was a senior in High School when I was in second grade. We went to the same small Christian school in Pontiac, Michigan. Phil was "the man" to the point that the caption under his senior picture said "Of what will he be president next?" I got to know some with his friends and six years later when I was in eighth grade and established a reputation somewhere beyond Dennis the Menace and Kevin from Home Alone, Judy Jones who was one of his friends and fresh out of college was my teacher. She said to me, "I remember you Mike, you're Phil's brother, and I have heard a lot of not so nice things about you and I want you to know that I do not believe a word of it." There was no way in the world I was going to disappoint her or Phil and it turned me around as a student. He was always the big brother even when he didn't know it.