Cast of characters: Mitch

Mitch, above, in recent photo, and, below, on the beach when he was small





Mitch is the oldest of my twins by seven minutes. He must be camera-shy, because I can't find very many photos of him. As a little guy, he was the sneaky one, whether he was filching ginger man cookies or silently peeling all of the labels off of his grandma's cans so she wouldn't know if she was opening green beans or a can of beets.

Growing up, he could go through money faster than a speeding bullet, but now he is a "wealth manager" for TIAA-CREF, and he's darn good at it. Becoming a father at 19 years old must have made him grow up really fast, because once he was responsible for a family, he put his shoulder to the wheel and pushed it as hard as he could.

In the family, we speak of him as a phantom at times, since we may go a long time between "Mitch-sightings," but he's wry and funny and very smart. Laurie keeps him from coloring outside the lines too much, and he's always highly informed and a good conversationalist --if you can find him.

Mitch graduated from Clark University in Worcester, Mass., which is where he met Laurie. We're happy she was willing to migrate south so that we can see them without too long a drive. He'll have to brush up on his daddy skills soon, but he's up for the challenge. He inherited his dad's killer competition at games, so a word of warning: Don't let him hustle you into a poker game.