I have one brother and he's four years older than I am.  Our relationship
was never very good and really hit bottom when he ended up providing all
the care for our parents when they were deteriorating from elderly health
considerations (I lived 1,000 miles away).

But, I have been determined to improve things and thought that music and
the internet was the best avenue to take.  My Brother, Stan, has been a
steady and devout classical music lover since childhood; no rock music or
any other type for this man, whereas I stopped listening to classical music
when I reached puberty and didn't get back into it until I was almost 40
years old.

I've been trying to get him to join the list, but he has some kind
Of paranoia about getting "ripped off" by hackers.  So I suggested to
him that we try to exchange some recordings - his undesireables for my
undesireables.  Stan was agreeable to the deal, and I was very enthusiastic
about making some selections from his vast library.  Stan's not a
"go-get-em" kind of guy, so I initiated things by e-mailing him a list of
about 50 cd's I could live without and also informed him that there were
plenty more where those came from.  Expecting a large list back from him,
I was eager with anticipation.  Well, his next e-mail said that he thought
my list was great, and he would write me back with his offerings.

Some offerings - he sent me a list of six recordings, nothing but Vivaldi
and Tchaikovsky.  He's so generous, and I had already told him that Vivaldi
and Liszt were non-starters for me with Tchaikovsky not far behind.  I
wrote him back, indicating that I had no interest in his list, but that I
would be glad to send him any number of the fifty I offered at no cost.
He liked that idea and has offered to pay the mailing charges.

Even though this exchange is going to be rather one-sided, our relationship
has picked up considerably, and classical music has been the foundation
for the change.  So, I'm going to keep going down this route and try to
increasingly solidify our bonding.  The wives are a problem.  Stan's wife
is bossy, intrusive, and sneaky (real sneaky) ; although my wife is great,
Stan sees her as a "cold fish".

By the way, does anyone have a large box I can use?

Don Satz
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