12/7 Brother John's birthday

He used to be Jack, until he met Paulette. She's now his wife of 35 years, and when they met she began calling him John, and it stuck. People who've known him since he was a child still call him Jack and he lets them get away with it. But he always corrects the rest of us--I think that's why I sometimes call him Jackie. That's his nickname from when he was a little tyke.

He's 56 today, two years younger than I. And there's another kid in between us (Jan, who's 11 months younger than I). John and Paulette are the proud parents of Kelly, Matt, and Nate. (Well, sometimes they're just the parents of Nate, forget the proud part. Hi, Nate!) They're also the ecstatic grandparents of Drew, Noah,Aiden, Blake, and Tyler.

John went from someone who just squeaked through grade school and high school to become an executive at a major employer in Quincy. We're all proud of him.

Happy birthday, bro. You're a great guy, and I love you.