A part of me died!
And the rest of me kinda wants to.
I’ve never experienced anything like this.
My brother, David, finally lost his battle with cancer last week.
And now there’s just us. The walking wounded. The many. The devastated. The left behind.
I used to follow my brother wherever he went. It has always been just the two of us. Separated by eight years and yet none at all. And now he’s gone to the one place I can’t follow.
My brother embodied everything that is good and bright in this world. It is a little bit dimmer now that his light has left us and we are the worser for it. Someone larger than life that was stolen from this world too soon.
He was amazing! The best brother I could have ever hoped or asked for…and I never had to ask.
I went to him for everything. From the time I was born, until the day he died, I wanted to make him laugh, tell him what was happening in my life and seek his advice. When I was little and got hurt, I wanted him to comfort me. I wanted him to comfort me as an adult too.
And for the first time in my life I don’t have that…and it feels so empty and confusing. As though I’m adrift without a rudder or compass.
Cancer is such an ugly disease. I wouldn’t wish it on my worst enemy. Somebody needs to find an answer for it and fast!
I understand the need to have a positive mental attitude and I get the idea that others have fought and survived cancer. My brother actually hated that idea of being a cancer warrior who was fighting a hard-fought battle. It used to make him angry because he felt like he wasn’t fighting anything. He told me he felt more like he was being pummeled in an unfair fight. Ravaged by cancer from the inside while being poked and prodded by doctors and nurses from the outside. He would go to chemo treatments and sit in their scratchy, cold chairs while they pumped toxic poison into his body and he would feel alone. Even though loved ones would go with him or he would be sitting in a room full of doctors or nurses with machines whirring and beeping, he was alone because nobody else could bear his burden. Nobody else could wear his scarlet C. But he mainly felt that way on his really bad days.
And yet, he had such kindness throughout his life. Even in his last days. His doctors and nurses all commented on his sense of humor and how kind he was to everyone. Two days before he passed away he had everybody rolling as he and his doctor went back and forth telling inappropriate jokes about a bottle of Vaseline. That was just who he was. He rarely met someone he didn’t like. And if he didn’t like a person, it really spoke volumes about that person’s character or lack thereof.
Possibly the best gift I was ever able to give my brother happened in the last 3 months of his life. My brother and I grew up skateboarding and we had one particular world-famous pro skateboarder that we idolized. I was able to connect with this person and pass on my brother’s story. They were gracious enough to be able to carve out a few hours for meeting and hanging out with my brother while they were on a trip….and it was amazing! People usually warn against meeting your idols; but, this totally surpassed my brothers expectations (mine too). They completely connected and really got one another. It made him happy for so many days as he retold the story to everyone. (I’m not going to name them or link to their site because they are a private person and I want the time they spent together to stay special)
What was really so special about the time my brother got to spend with them was the fact that I had intended it to brighten my brother’s life, which it did. But, what I hadn’t expected was for his childhood idol to come away with the feeling of, “Wow! That guy David is an amazing guy!!” Which if you knew my brother was just such a David thing to do. He became his childhood idols idol. They stayed in touch even to his last day.
My brother lived at full speed. He drank deeply from life and didn’t care whether that bothered other people or they didn’t get him. He was a snowboard instructor for people with adaptive needs. He grew vegetables in my parents garden and loved cooking for other people. He was a roller derby referee for a women’s flat-track league. He loved movies and concerts and going to ComiCon. He was that family friend you called “Uncle David” even though he wasn’t a blood relation. Whatever you were into, whether that was what he was into or not, he’d get excited talking with you about it or listening to you get excited about it.
And oh how he loved his friends. David was a fierce friend! Friends weren’t friends, they were family. If you were lucky enough to be counted on that long list, there wasn’t anything he wouldn’t do for you. He jokingly said of my parents in the final words he wrote as he, his wife and I discussed what his funeral service would look like. In his MD townhome in his life-well-lived living room surrounded by movies and pictures and trinkets from memorable experiences. With the iconic photobooth pictures of his family and friends from years of going to the beach hung on the walls. With shelves full of both familiar and obscure board games and card games that his family and friends played together. Surrounded by mountains of cancer-related paperwork and cancer-related medical paraphrenalia. Wrapped in his favorite hoody and blankets because his chemo left him forever-cold. He said of our parents, “they’d give you everything they had and then help you fill out the tax forms.” But that was how he was too. He’d give the shirt off his back and the first couple layers of skin if that’s what was asked.
I used to get frustrated because I didn’t understand and would feel like they were encroaching on what I considered family-time. But I get it more now, on the other side of the rogue wave that has crushed our family and friends. Left us wondering which way is up as we drown in the waters of grief with the pressure burning and crushing our lungs. Gasping for some sort of relief.
Life is about the relationships we have. All of them. And we should live our lives in such a way that we don’t have family and friends. It’s all just family. I’ve learned to think of my days as precious and to ask myself at the end of the day, “have I lived today in a way that would make David proud?”
I’ll end this tribute to the greatest guy I’ve ever known with something he was fond of saying in the last two years of his life. “Go spend time with your family and friends. Give them a big hug and tell them you love them”. We should all be so lucky.
I carry your heart with me by E. E. Cummings
i carry your heart with me(i carry it in
my heart)i am never without it(anywhere
i go you go,my dear; and whatever is done
by only me is your doing,my darling)
i fear no fate(for you are my fate,my sweet)
I want no world(for beautiful you are my world,my true)
and it’s you are whatever a moon has always meant
and whatever a sun will always sing is you
here is the deepest secret nobody knows
(here is the root of the root and the bud of the bud
and the sky of the sky of a tree called life;which grows
higher than the soul can hope or mind can hide)
and this is the wonder that’s keeping the stars apart
i carry your heart(i carry it in my heart)
I am so sorry for your loss. Words sometimes fall short in moments like this, but you’ve written a beautiful and loving tribute to your brother and it really touched me reading it. Sending positive thoughts to you and your loved ones.
Thank you for the praise and positive thoughts! You’re so right. Words do fall short, but sometimes that’s all we have
I am so sorry for your loss. Your brother sounds like an amazing person and he will live on through you. Keep telling his stories ❤️ Praying for peace and comfort for you and your family.
Thanks so much five! I appreciate the prayers. He really was an amazing person and will be sorely missed
I am so sorry for your loss. Beautiful tribute piece.
Thanks for taking the time to read it Jenn 😃
beautifull blog.. A Tribute to your brother..
Thank you Panchali! I hope he is honored and loved through my words 😊
When I lost my dad, I knew my life was done. I told myself, well this is it! This is how it ends. But if we love them long enough, we get to keep them in our hearts.
A sad read, carefully crafted into words. I am so sorry for your loss. I pray you get the strength to face each day.
Because loved ones never leave, they just walk faster. Keep his candle shining!
Thank you so much Daisy! Such sage advice. Sorry you speak from experience.
Unfortunately, I do. But am still grateful. And thank you!
So sorry for your loss to you and your family. No-one can understand how you truly feel as we all experience this differently. I too have lost 2 of my close loved ones, one being my big brother. I believe they are with me everyday helping me through my life, still giving me the advice and encouragement I so need. Thoughts to you all x
Thanks Sam! I agree I think of him being with me every day, just not physically. He always gave such good advice. 😃
My thoughts and prayers are with you and your family. 🌺
Thanks crafty. It’s much appreciated. I hope you get to enjoy some surf. Next time I’m out I plan to paddle out with a little bit of his ashes. It’s what he would’ve wanted
What an awesome idea, it’s like he gets to surf forever 🤙
Yeah. We discussed a number of places he’d like to go to after his cremation. Sort of like Jack Nicholson and Morgan Freeman in the bucket list. He wants to go snowboarding in Colorado and surfing in Virginia Beach and Hawaii
Wow!
I am sorry for your loss of your brother. Cancer is horrible. You wrote better than I ever could about it. It brought me back to May when I lost my father to cancer. We will get through this, albeit with a scar to remind us how much we loved them and how much we miss them.
Thank you for your kind words Joey. Sorry to bring up such a sad memory for you. You’re right, we will get through this with a bit more of a broken heart. But they would want us to continue on
True
That was supposed to say Julie. Darn talk to text
It’s all good. I didn’t even notice! 😂
What a lovely tribute to your brother. I am so sorry for your loss. He was special to you. It shows. Thanks for sharing a piece of him here with us. Memories will comfort you. Wishing you and your family peace. Van
Thanks Van! He really was special. I’m glad that came through in what I wrote.
I am so sorry for your loss. My mother-in-law passed away from cancer this year. Cancer is so horrible. I will keep you in my thoughts and prayers over this holiday season. I’m sure it will be difficult. Cancer can never take away the memories and the special times that you had together…Over time that is what you will remember and not the last several months of a devastating battle.
I’m sorry that you and your family have joined the cancer club like we have outrunning. The holidays are always such a particularly rough time of year. My brother asked me to officiate his memorial service and the Irish proverb I found for his toast really helped, “death leaves a scar that nothing can heal, love leaves a memory that nothing can steal”
That is a very beautiful proverb for the service.
Thanks! I thought he would like it as we have Irish roots
That was such a beautiful tribute, I’m sure your brother knew he was just as fortunate to have you in his life as you were to have him in yours. I’m so sorry for your lost. Love and prayers to you and your family in your time of sorrow.
Thanks for the kind words and the prayers Tina! That means a lot. I hope he knew; but, I’m fairly certain he knew how loved he was which was a positive of his passing taking time over a number of months.
Loss…sorry typo
no worries. i do that all the time.
I’m sorry for your loss and truly commend you for sharing this.
Thank you! I appreciate that Mark
I am so sorry for your devastating loss. It is horrible. I lost my daddy and understand your suffering. I just prayed for you. God bless you.
Thanks for the prayers Tonya. Sorry that you understand from experience
Warmly welcome. Hang in there.😊
Simply beautiful…sorry for your loss!
Thanks Crystal! I really appreciate that
I’m so, so sorry that your obviously wonderful brother has been taken from you all.
What a tribute. A beautiful piece.
My only brother died in 2005 and it devastated the family and his friends. It’s awful and I’m sorry that you’re all going through this.
Thank you for the kind words and for taking the time to read & comment. I’m sorry that you’ve experienced this kind of loss too.
I am so sorry for your loss xx
Thanks Christy! I appreciate that 😃
This is beautiful. What a blessing to have such fond memories to carry you until you meet again. God Bless!
Thank you for that! It has been a blessing to remember all the positive memories. We’re lucky there were so many positives!
I’m so sorry for the loss of your brother. This is such a beautiful tribute. I’m sure all who knew your brother must feel it was a privilege to have known him. I love what you say at the end, about everyone being family… “Go spend time with your family and friends. Give them a big hug and tell them you love them”. What an important, special message. Hope you’re doing well. Take care!
I appreciate that. The one positive I take is it’s made me realize even more, the importance of disconnecting from technology and being present with your loved ones. My brother really was an amazing guy who had a ton of friends!