My educated guess as an adult is that he's bipolar. He is a hermit who lives in a trailer out in a very remote town on a piece of property that backs up to state property. I have only once or maybe twice spoken with him on the phone during our entire adult life. He is only one year older than I am. He would occasionally come to family functions (I haven't live anywhere near my family for decades), but you never knew when or if he'd show up.
His story is very much like your brother's. Since we're so close in age I remember him from second grade when the principal called my parents to school. Now, my parents rarely showed up at the school for anything, so this was a big deal that they even went. I'm sure that they probably recommended they get help for him, but I'm equally sure that my opinionated, loud mouthed father would never do that, so he told them to get him another teacher and they did. Poor teacher.
My grown children know all these stories and my son often says to me, "You really need to write a memoir." I've read plenty of dysfunctional family memoirs and I'm pretty sure my family would take some sort of prize
I used to say to people who knew my stories, "You've heard of the black sheep of the family? Well, I'm the white sheep." I was the one of seven who actually decided at a very young age that as soon as I grew up I was out of there and would make a better life for myself and would raise my children differently and I did. Still, it can be difficult to be an outsider in your own family.
Edit history
= new reply since forum marked as read
