The Check

The Check

“They may forget what you said, but they will never forget how you made them feel.”

Carl W. Buehner

I don’t know when this started, but I know it went on for a lifetime.

My dad, Harry, and his brother, John, were close. They pulled pranks together, loved jazz music, joined the Naval Air Corps, and worked for the same company for a while after WWII. From junior high on, their sister, Mary, was close friends with both of their wives, my mom and Aunt Dolores. All of them were a big part of the foundation of my family.

At some point, my dad and Uncle John began a tradition. I don’t know who started it, but it lasted until my uncle passed away in 1991.

Each year in March, Uncle John would send my dad a birthday card with a check for five dollars. And every August, my dad would send Uncle John a birthday card with a check for five dollars. Dad sent the check above on August 28, 1974, two days before Uncle John’s birthday, so that it would make it from Tarzana to La Canada exactly on time.

I found it several years ago, as I was sorting through some of my parents’ papers. No big deal, on the surface. They were just trading five dollars back and forth, each year. But what they were really doing was sharing an inside joke and brotherly love that lasted a lifetime.