November 5th has come and gone.  It is a day of true remembrance for me every year.  My older brother Casey passed away on November 5 2002.  Every year it gets a bit easier to make it through.  Every year I think of him and how he affected my life.  On this 5th of November I wrote down a memory I have of him.  I’ll share that this year instead of being general. Growing up I was the smallest kid in my class despite being one of the oldest.  I spent my summers with my 2 brothers finding anything that could keep our interest.  When the rainy season would start in late July/August the canals, washes and rivers would fill to their banks with water.  Behind our house about ¼ mile was a river bed which was vacant growing up.  When the rainy season would start we would always spend our days down by the flowing river which was dry the other 11 months of the year.  When it would reach its peak, it was always too strong for me to cross; which was a bummer since there were some good cliffs to jump just beyond the river during that wet season.    I remember on one occasion following my brother out into the river and quickly realizing I wasn’t going to make it, but was in fact going to be swept downstream to what I felt was going to be my demise.  As I clung to a rock that was large enough to hold me I saw my big brother reach the other side tired from his journey.  He noticed I was in trouble and without thought dove into the river and started towards me.  When he reached me he yelled “just stay right behind me and hold onto me”!  I did as I was ordered and he fought the current breaking it from me and pulling us both safely to the other side. That became the normal crossing for us as we would go to the cliffs during the rainy season.  My brother would take the front blow of the rapids allowing for calmer waters directly behind him, so that I and my younger brother could cross with safety. This action provided by my elder brother mirrored how he operated in life.  He never backed down from the challenges he would face, and if he noticed them in front of me he would do whatever he could to take the initial blow allowing for me to make it through calmer tide. I love and miss him every day.  He was my confidant, my friend and my guardian.

November 5th has come and gone.  It is a day of true remembrance for me every year.  My older brother Casey passed away on November 5 2002.  Every year it gets a bit easier to make it through.  Every year I think of him and how he affected my life.  On this 5th of November I wrote down a memory I have of him.  I’ll share that this year instead of being general.

Growing up I was the smallest kid in my class despite being one of the oldest.  I spent my summers with my 2 brothers finding anything that could keep our interest.  When the rainy season would start in late July/August the canals, washes and rivers would fill to their banks with water.  Behind our house about ¼ mile was a river bed which was vacant growing up.  When the rainy season would start we would always spend our days down by the flowing river which was dry the other 11 months of the year.  When it would reach its peak, it was always too strong for me to cross; which was a bummer since there were some good cliffs to jump just beyond the river during that wet season.   

I remember on one occasion following my brother out into the river and quickly realizing I wasn’t going to make it, but was in fact going to be swept downstream to what I felt was going to be my demise.  As I clung to a rock that was large enough to hold me I saw my big brother reach the other side tired from his journey.  He noticed I was in trouble and without thought dove into the river and started towards me.  When he reached me he yelled “just stay right behind me and hold onto me”!  I did as I was ordered and he fought the current breaking it from me and pulling us both safely to the other side.

That became the normal crossing for us as we would go to the cliffs during the rainy season.  My brother would take the front blow of the rapids allowing for calmer waters directly behind him, so that I and my younger brother could cross with safety.

This action provided by my elder brother mirrored how he operated in life.  He never backed down from the challenges he would face, and if he noticed them in front of me he would do whatever he could to take the initial blow allowing for me to make it through calmer tide.

I love and miss him every day.  He was my confidant, my friend and my guardian.