I decided to title this for many reasons, but it truly is dedicated to my brother. Here’s our story…

My brother, Glenn, was born on May 18, 1970, I was only 10 at the time. He was the youngest of seven children, I was number two from the top. But that’s how I remember all the birthdays and years of a family so big! We didn’t have cellphones to remind us. We maybe just had a calendar. But we always celebrated.

Within a month after Glenn was born, my older sister, Wendy, noticed a red swelling in his arm.

Siblings were always enlisted when needed to care for the younger kids. After all, Mom had to cook sometime, prepare lunches for school, help with homework, manage laundry and bath times, and our mom also always worked or volunteered at our school.

The swelling turned out to be osteomyelitis, which, back in 1970, was unheard of. And if you google it today, it’s rare, less than 200,000 cases a year. It’s a bone infection. Back then, everything was treated with an antibiotic. But there was no way to determine why or who was at fault. And when there’s only one pediatrician in the city… you trust them, they made house calls, they were like family.

This plagued my brother throughout his life. It affected his bone growth, so he wore lifts in his shoes, and he had a shorter right arm. The condition led to lifelong dispositions, uncomfortable, pain meds, doctor visits, bone fusions, poor dental health.

Despite all these issues, he was the best brother. Always was smiling. Never had a bad word about any of us. He lived with my parents all his life because of his health issues, and he was the “baby”.

He helped his 5 sisters through divorces with “man” questions, and he said, “This is why I won’t get married.”

Oh brother.

Glenn, passed away just after his 51st birthday. It was May 23, 2021… just over 3 weeks after I lost Steve, which was May 1, 2021.

Oh brother!

May of 2021 was not kind to me. Or my family.

But we carry on.

Now that it has been some time since I lost two extremely important people in my life…

A few weeks ago, I actually had a dream where my brother came to me. I woke up sobbing. But I remember it vividly. I told my sister, Julie, about it. This was the first time I had ever seen him in my dreams since he passed.

She offered me some insight…. “How could you possibly mourn Glenn, just after Steve’s passing 3 weeks prior and not feel guilty?”

Who could you be mourning or missing more? You can’t equate them both.

So… oh brother!

I welcome anyone into my dreams … that connects me to them … our lives… that feeling of warmth…

Oh Brother! I miss you and Steve and all others that gave us great memories that we have .

Oh brother… I hope…. Here we go again… until next time…. Dream on … embrace those dreams and memories… every day is precious… ☮️ and ❤️