The news we’ve been dreading for the last eight months finally came last night- my brother lost his battle with pancreatic cancer.  Bob was 52.  He was a husband and a father, an Air Force veteran, and a retired police detective.  And he was my only brother and I loved him dearly from the first minute I held him as a baby.We’ve already lost four friends since Christmas, so this has been a very difficult time for us.  Tom Hall, Bob Smith, Kevin Ziese, and Becky Bace all departed far too soon, and left gaping holes in our hearts. 

We’ve tried to soldier on and live our lives as best we can, having adventures and savoring all the beauty and wonder around us.  And we understood that these health struggles were private things that we couldn’t really talk about much.  But as my friend says, a burden shared is a burden halved… and so I’m sharing our very deep sadness in the hopes that it helps to duct-tape our shattered hearts back together a bit.

No matter how sad it is to lose someone you love, I can’t help but think about how very grateful and blessed I am to have loved someone that much, and to have been loved back that much.  Not everyone is so lucky.  It hurts because it was such a good and wonderful thing.