This is my brother Rogelio. He is three years older than me (but I look much younger that him). When we were young, we got along very well. We use to buy tons of plastic toy soldiers, toy guns and little cars to play with. I always had a playmate.
As the years came and we made it to our teenage years we became very different from each other. Rogelio, better know to us as,
Roje, grew more conservative, a lot more mature. He enjoyed the benefits of having more in common with my older sister, Maria Elena.
Roje got into being an frequent
escort for weddings and
quinceañeras. Maria Elena bought him the suits and ties. He wore his hair short and combed. Remember Santana's "Europa (Earth's cry, Heaven's smile)?
Roje and I shared a room at home and during the week he would listen to a radio program called "La Media
Naranja". People would request dedications for their boyfriend or girlfriend or would also ask for the DJ to set them up on dates with other listeners. The theme song for the program was "Europa". Every time I hear that song, that is the memory that comes back to me. Well, listening to that program was one of the
few things we would agree on.
Roje had a 1971
Camaro that Maria Elena had given him. During our teenage years, he hated having to give me a ride to
Piedras Negras. Either I had to give him gas money or mom had to order him to take me. Some of the things that bother
Roje about me were - I drank beer, hung around with my cousins (his cousins too), dressed like the 70s, drank beer, and drank more beer and smoked.
Roje never wore T-shirts by themselves or blue jeans. He
preferred the button down shirts and slacks. He hung out with our older cousins who were more mature than the ones I hung out with. He stayed out of trouble, always. I don't think mom ever missed a night's sleep because of him. He worked, went to school, had a formal girlfriend and came home every night.
Me, well, I drank beer, smoked, got into fights and just barely manage to stay out of serious trouble and would leave home on Friday and come back on Sunday.
That's me on the right side of the picture. I wore that shirt every day, owned one pair of dress shoes and wore sneakers all the time. I also had one or two dress pants and a couple of button down shirts. Mom made sure of that so that if I had to go dressed to some important event (like a funeral) I could look
descent. Yeah, I would get a hair cut once in awhile, but it was usually too long and kept me on my grand fathers problem child list.
Check him out! Que
carita! This was from Maria Elena's wedding or Dora's
quinceañera. The girl was really pretty and
Roje was really love struck. He was actually nice to me that night. Didn't yell at me at all.
This is from his wedding night. That was a great night. They had a pretty good band playing at the dance hall. My cousins and I danced most of the night. The only bad thing was that some drunk ran into Dora's car after the dance. The actual dance ended at 0200 am, but some drunk relative paid for the band to continue playing at the "
torno boda" which is the party after the dance. That lasted until about 0800 am. We ate "
menudo" and continued dancing till the sun came up. Oh yeah, I did wear a button down shirt, dress shoes and slacks that night. I also
behaved since both my parents were there.
Here I am in something different other than my green army shirt. I use to listen to American music more that Mexican music.
Roje preferred to listen to Mexican music. He had an 8-track player in his car and we would listen to "
los Terricolas, Los Angeles Negros,
Camilo Sesto, Nelson Ned, Estela
Nuñez, Juan Gabriel, etc". Once in a while he would let us play Elton John or John Denver. That was a wild a music as he would put up with.
After he got married he let loose a little and moved away from full button down shirts and wore blue jeans. We started to get along better by then. I also cleaned up a bit.
I was still doing the same things but since I wasn't at home any more, it wasn't as noticeable. Well, now since I have matured some, I really like that old Mexican music
Roje use to like.
I was already married when this one was taken.
Roje actually invited me and
Elfida to a party at his in-laws house. Well, I started thinking about
Roje because I found that "
Youtube" has music from all those old Mexican singer from the 70's. Some of the songs I hadn't heard in more 30 years. Listening to them brought back some old memories. I realized that I didn't have a whole lot of memories of
Roje and me doing thing together as teenagers.
OK, I did remembered lots of funny stories about things we did that would get him mad at us. Yeah, there are lots of those stories. We get along great now, except when we travel together. I don't like being late for anything and he is never in a hurry to get to any place. He's told
Elfida that he is going to get her a medal for putting up with me and my lack of patience.
I left work sick Sunday night, got home about midnight and laid in bed trying to fall asleep. I don't know what time I finally fell asleep, but at 07:30 am, my wife got up. We had to go to the Memorial Day service they were having at the Rosemound Cemetery. Carlos came home since he had a four day weekend. He knew we attended the Memorial Day services and to my wife's delight he brought his uniform. Upon parking and walking towards the service area we met Maiko's High School Marine ROTC instructor. He recognized my wife but did not recognized Carlos, who was all of 11 years old when Maiko graduated.
The ceremony was very moving. There were more people there then in previous years. So many flags, so many wars,...
The Marines were there in their dress blues. Very impressive. The Army, navy, Air force and Coast Guard were also represented. It was hot and humid, an overcast day.
The old veterans were there with their patches commemorating battles, ships, wars, and work groups. All proud to have served this country.
All life members of an elite group that has served their country in times of war.
All proud of their Service.
Some young, some old. Bill Erck and his wife knew Carlos when Carlos was just a little kid. Elfida use to take him to our C.O.P and C.P.A. meeting. He was too young to be left alone at home. Bill is a former Marine who never lost that Marine walk.
I think I will let the pictures do the talking now.
