Loss in the Family ~ the Man born on the July 4th

"I alone am left on earth!

To whom nor relative not blood remains,

No! not a kindred drop that runs in human veins."

~ Campbell

 Her brother passed away last week.  He was 81 and she turned 84 today.  He called his older sister (my Mom) just before he died to tell her he loved her.  It took her by surprise.  She answered "Brother, I'm suppose to call you.  I always say I love you first.  We've had this conversation every day for almost 7 decades. He laughed and said 'yes I know, but this once I wanted to tell you first'.  She was so deeply touched she could only mumble 'thanks' and 'good bye'.   He then rolled his wheel chair into his room, asked for assistance to get into bed and there, not five minutes later~ he took is last breath.  His heart stopped and he passed on into the night

She and I sit on the patio in her desert home and review that simply conversation many times a day.  Sometimes she can not quite grasp her loss and when she does, her heart shatters again.  Her memory recalls him as a boy.  She and he were the middle children in a family of four kids ~ they have been as 'thick as thieves' since childhood.  She taught him to speak and walk...no doubt it is why she went on to be a talented instructor of English grammar.  She recalls, that although they could have fierce arguments, it always ended in "I love you".  She is and he was the most formidable and stubborn human beings I've ever met. Now there is one.  She seems quite lost without her sibling.  Her memory is failing her and locks her in her grief anew...many times a day.  She asks me to tell her one more time what has happened. Each time I brace for that shutter of sorrow that engulfs her.  Slowly, oh so slowly she begins to comprehend that he is no more.

Oh, God! it is a fearful thing

To see the human soul take wing

In any shape, in any mood!"

~Byron

Good bye Uncle.  You are mourned here.  You have joined  your Parents, your older Sister, your nephew...my Brother, and your friend, my Dad.  We few who remain shed tears and some soft laughter remembering yesterdays.  But most important of all, your sister whispers "I love you" quietly into the night.