When You Share

Every person is different so I write this solely from my perspective. I absolutely love it when people share stories, photos, videos, mementos of Bryan, my big brother Todd, my parents, of people who I have loved and lost. This keeps their memory alive to me and shows me that love endures. If you’re wondering if it’s okay to bring them up or if telling a story might hurt me or offend me, please know that rather than retreating from it, I love and embrace it. I got reminded of this over the past few days.

Saturday evening I went to my friends’, Horte and Max, to enjoy visiting, grilled hamburgers, and tasty beverages. While there a few people described their positive experiences and good memories of Bryan with me. My heart was really full. Yes, he was kind and could approach bullies with calm logic and even-tempered questions in defense of others. Oh my heart. Yes. You knew him too, eh? I love it so much.

Yesterday, our good friend Walter sent some photos of Bryan and me from a long time ago, ones I hadn’t seen in ages. There we were at the beginning of our relationship and the love and joy that marked all of our time together are right there, palpable. Oh how wonderful to revisit all of that.

Finally, this morning, I opened a video from my sister. In it my big brother, Todd, is reading a poem he had written. He touches on loss, love, forgiveness, and art and I am filled with awe that I get his words and voice and sage counsel even now.

I appreciate so much the folks who share these things. While I may cry or have my heart lurch with longing and sorrow, it is washed with giant waves of love and gratitude that drown out everything else. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you.