I am the youngest of 6 siblings.
With good fortune, all of us are alive and reasonably well.
Various ones amongst us have a variety of ailments and untoward conditions, but the fact we are alive is noteworthy and perhaps worth celebrating.
I wish to talk about one brother in particular.
He is now 85, so has exceeded the life expectancy for American males. In that respect perhaps I shouldn’t be writing about him at all.
A confession: although American, we are of Asian descent.
As one brother put it, we’re like bananas: yellow on the outside, white on the inside.
Being Asian myself, I can say that without much risk of seeming racist.
And I certainly mean no offense to bananas.
I wish to illustrate a point with my brother.
He is not overweight, a smoker, diabetic, or hypertensive. He does not drink alcohol.
He is married, ostensibly happily.
Indeed, for a time he was the medical director at a health and wellness center in central CA.
But he has 2 conditions one would probably not wish on an enemy.
Some years ago he developed chest discomfort.
