My Brother Denny

A few weeks ago now I got the news that my beautiful brother has entered into the black hole of an incideous disease called Alzheimer's. For over ten years now he has fought off the advances of this heinous predator only to succumb in the end to it's terrible task.

What is life if not a volatile and violent force only sometimes controlled by persistent emotions and selfless love? In the end we all succumb to life's lesions and continue on our infinite journey through time and space. The only comfort here is that we can and should take advantage of every single day that the universe bestows on us and sing its songs of joy and happiness while we can.

I will always remember my brother as he was when we were young and care free ... when we were vital and immortal with our youth protecting us as a father protects his son. We would play in the sunshine of never ending days and bask in the eternal essence of adolescence.

As we moved on with our lives unfortunately we began to drift apart. What a pity that life can in one moment nourish and in the next starve us. I ended up in Chicago and he landed in Fort Wayne Indiana - both of us to busy with ours careers, and he with his family, to continue our sibling friendship.

I must admit that I am not very good about keeping in touch unless the friendship is fresh and vital. Usually really good friends will understand and pick up where we left off and not miss a beat. In fact this happened with my brother when my life partner of 28 years passed away in November of 2009.

There is nothing more debilitating or heartbreaking than the loss of a husband, wife - your life partner - when these moments happen it feels like the end of the world, and it is in fact ... the end of your world together. I believe that my brother understood this and when the time came for him to be there for me he was. From the depths of his Alzheimers he decided that he needed to be there for me in my hour of need and drove with his wife and eldest daughter from Fort Wayne to be by my side and I will always remember that kindness.

If there is one message that I have laid out in all my blogs and writtings it is this: Life is nothing unless it is based on love and kindness. We are who we present ourselselves to be and therefore we can be whatever or whoever we want to be. But more than that, we are only temporary on this stage so to live in the moment is vital and to live fully is most crucial!

I love you brother Denny ...