This week’s blog challenge prompt is “Highlight your regular commenters and compile some of the best comments you got on your blog. Let the commenters know.” I’m going to modify this since we’re coming up on my brother’s birthday in a few days and post some of my favorite things he has commented on my posts or posted himself over the years.

The first quote was before the internet took hold. Jon was always head over heels in love with technology, but in this situation, we were just sitting around with friends celebrating New Year’s Eve in 1990 and getting drunk together for the first (and last, now that I think about it) time. We were all discussing the new clear beer that was out, Zima. Jon’s delivery was always deadpan and quiet, and this time was no different as he stated, “Zima zucks.” Now any time I see mention of a clear drink or Zima, “Zima zucks” is what goes through my head.

Jon was shorter than me until suddenly he was not. His junior year of high school, he shot up over a foot in height. Eventually Jon reached a height of 6’8″. He endured years of “Do you play basketball?” and usually responded “No, do you play miniature golf?”

You know that song “Signs”? “Long haired freaky people need not apply” and all that. I watched Jon get turned down for a lot of jobs he was overqualified for simply because older employers didn’t like his long hair. Eventually he realized that he could land the jobs easier if he looked the part on the outside, even if he was the same long-haired metal head on the inside. There was not a judgmental bone in Jon’s body when it came to a person’s appearance.

It would greatly surprise a few of Jon’s grade school and high school teachers to learn that he was actually quite gifted academically. He had the fasted words-per-minute typing count of anyone I knew–he would overload the keyboard buffer and have to sit and wait for it to catch up from 4 lines behind. He had equally strong math and writing skills, and he was constantly soaking up new information.

For context, this dialogue was in response to a picture of a typical Addams Family/Munsters Victorian mansion. Jon loved the Addams Family and named most of his computers after the characters.

Jon was a hardcore Star Wars fan and he wasn’t afraid to let the world know he still had his OG Star Wars bedding. He was pretty awesome like that.

Jon tried to sound-proof several rentals by sleeping on his couch and putting his mattress and box springs against the walls surrounding his drum kit. He later learned from neighbors that it did nothing to dampen the sound.

Our mom is very creative, and one year she got a bunch of fake brown fur and cut teeth out of a bleach bottle and made Jon a “bearskin rug” for his bedroom.

Jon very much lived life as someone who grabbed the bull by the horns. I don’t know if it was because he grew up with precarious health when he was younger, or because he was the youngest child, or because he’s a Leo. All I do know is that he was a (calculated) risk taker.

Jon could see math in anything. When we waited for meals at restaurants, he would doodle equations and problems on the napkins. He watched his nephew toddle around when he learned to walk and figured up the force my son’s knees experienced on impact every time he fell.

I think our family is just big fans of condiments and spreads.

Once again, Jon was the most nonjudgmental person I knew, because he had been there and he knew what discrimination felt like. We once waited 3 hours at a restaurant to be served, and the wait staff simply huddled in the near empty restaurant and stared at us because they didn’t like our long hair and black band tshirts and ripped jeans. By hour 2, it was the principle of the matter. They eventually gave us water. Probably would have stayed longer if we hadn’t needed to get to work.

“Jonsicle” is a term I always think of when standing around in cold weather now. I also remember Jon showing up to work on my computer and pulling diskettes out of his armpits under his coat. His car often didn’t heat properly, so he put the computer stuff where it would stay warm so he could get to work quicker and not risk shattering cold technology.

Every August, Jon and I would set up a green army pup tent and pour over Uncle Carl’s Boy Scout book and then watch all of the shooting stars. It was a great way to celebrate Jon’s birthday month. And with that I will end this post. Happy 54th Birthday, Jon. ❤