10/04/2026
My brother Brian, July 1, 1960 - October 2, 2024. I spent much of the day yesterday remembering him - in the happy, healthy days, and also a little bit about his last days, in sickness. I walked on the beach - his favorite happy place - and remembered: Our family vacations in the Poconos, fishing together in the row boat on Promised Land Lake (and him refusing to touch the worms, so I had to do it); body surfing in the big waves of the Jersey Shore, with his face out of the water as he zoomed towards me with a giant smile (much like our mom); looking for horseshoe crabs and other shells on the beach; playing music with his band on our roof in Burlington, Iowa - always an unofficial block party! Making homemade bottle-rockets with Tim, and nearly putting out an eye; breaking our back door window with his hand & bleeding all over the place; teaching me to play “Color My World” and letting me play it on my flute with the “rock stars” (with his first Denton band “”Obsidian Glass;” all my high school friends having a crush on him - ugh I hated it back then (!) but now I see it… 😅 Watching him become a dad - ever devoted; listening as he tried to explain space travel and musical sound waves / binaural beats… Then I remembered watching him be brave in his last days when he was so sick, and how he remained so kind to his doctor and nurses, despite his misery... How he offered forgiveness to those who had wronged him, whether they knew it or not… Brian was a special person, and I miss him and am thankful for my memories, which will last forever. And at the end of my memorial walk on the beach, I saw a tiny rainbow, and felt him smiling down on me. 🌈✨
