Points2Ponder
By Alan P.
Scaglone
And then there were two. The picture above is a childhood
picture of Big Brother Joe, Middle Brother Paul and Never Smallest but always youngest brother Alan. Oh
yea…the cat? That’s Tigris the 1st! I say the first because we had
Tigris 1, 2, 3 and 4. When we liked a name…we stuck with it! Apparently!
There we are—just 3 nobody kids from a nobody
neighborhood…born to lower class, blue collar working parents. Papa was a
diesel truck mechanic; Mama made brooms and mops for a living. Your basic
working class family—never much to speak of, but we always had food…and each
other!
Joe was the firstborn—he was the one who left home to get
married and had a daughter, whom he adored. Nikki was the heartbeat to my
brother’s heart…until she was killed by a drunk driver…and his heart quit
beating. He continued to exist, but losing his 18 year old daughter stopped his
heart…for the first time.
Roll forward 22 years, on Saturday, May 12th, at
8:15pm, after 5 grueling weeks in ICU fighting the good fight with every fiber
of his body, his heart stopped beating for the last time!
His brothers were with him for that last moment, when he
left this earth and was reunited with his daughter in heaven for the first time
in 22 years. I know he was excited to see God, but… I have to believe he put up
his pointer finger, signaling to the Lord “Just one moment please!” while he hugged Nikki for the first time in a long
time, and his heart started beating again—in heaven!
And then there were two. We cried, we hugged, we reminisced,
we wondered…all the why’s and why not’s you wonder when your 61 year old
brother goes from completely healthy on April 1st to being admitted
into the emergency room April 6th to watching him slowly diminish
and slip into a coma, kidneys failing, lungs collapsing... and finally, heart
beat stopping..
We were there for it all—through thick and thin—that’s what
our parents taught us—“your siblings are the ones you can depend on when your
parents are gone…and we did! Until the very end!”
But…we had no idea that the “very end” would be 42 days
away!
POINTS2PONDER
Why do we assume they will just always
be there—until they aren’t? Why can we make time for a funeral -- but be too
busy to visit before??
So we are in the midst of the “decisions” – what song? Which
poem? What time? What place?
And I keep thinking… “and
then there were two”…and I feel a tear rolling down my face, and I
realize…I’m really going to miss my Big Brother—that really surprises me!
So…here’s your
homework, okay?
Reach out to your sibling—that one you may not talk to very
often or haven’t talked to in years!
Reconnect with them BEFORE you have to fly in for a funeral
or hear about their “very end” via email or text or a phone call.
You make the first step—and I promise it will not matter who
makes the second because…you will be reconnected again.
Don’t let a hearse lead you to your sibling’s final
destination—and you wish you had made amends.
IF you have time to attend their funeral you MUST have time
to reconnect BEFORE there IS a funeral!
And in the end…when they are gone, you will save yourself a
lifetime of regret and wishes and coulda shoulda!
I would not have wanted to be anywhere else this past
Saturday than with my Big Brother…
Cheering him on as he finished HIS race and received HIS
glory…and saw his little girl again!
TELL ME WHAT
YOU THINK! We made it EASY TO COMMENT!
SELECT the
link BELOW! YOU can send me an email! I CANT WAIT!
No comments:
Post a Comment