My Brother

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It has been such a long time since I last wrote a blog. In fact I have not written a blog in the entire year of 2016. I am not exactly certain why this is. It isn't because there was not a lot going on in the world in 2016 or that I'm not interested in current events. It certainly isn't because there had been no changes in my personal life. Perhaps it has been because there have been so many changes but one is the most significant.

Our last talk - our birthday 2016

This was the year my twin brother died. Jim had been sick with cancer for some time and had been taking a number of treatments seeking a cure. In April of 2016, for the first time in more years than I could remember we were together for our birthday. We spent the afternoon in his living room at home talking - mostly of the memories we shared, photography and cameras. He was hopeful that a new course of treatment soon to be started would improve his health. It would be the last time he spoke with me. Weeks later, at the end of May Paula and Emma, Jim's wife and daughter asked for me to come back to Toronto. Jim's treatment had not gone well and he had rapidly deteriorated. He was in a coma and did not have much more time. I arrived on Saturday and sat with him, Paula and Emma, and Gay, our sister, for the next two days as family and friends came to share their love for Jim.

On Monday evening (May 30^th) with everyone gone, an exhausted Paula and Emma went home for a much needed rest. I was alone with Jim. Later in the evening his breathing slowed. Around 10:30, ever so gently, his breathing stopped. I was with him when he came into this world and I was with him when he left it. Even though I am writing this more than half a year after his death, I still don't think I have fully hoisted it in that he is gone.

He was such a good man and I miss him so much . . . Jims Obituary