My brother died the other day.
Good. That's the first word that popped into my mind when the call came. Good.
Good on many levels. Good that he was released from a very painful and lingering death. Good that the ones who still loved him can experience a sense of relief for him being out of the pain. And for some of us, Good that he is finally removed from this plane of existence.
I've talked about the many sins of Michael in the past, I won't go into it here again. You can preview past blogs about him if you want. I lost a brother, or at least the potential of a brother the other day. We have been estranged for quite some time now. Friends have been sending condolences, expressing words of comfort for my loss. Truthfully, I lost Michael a very long time ago. I don't mourn for the man who was never a brother to me, but for what might have been. I never had a really cool big brother, and he missed out on the most awesome little brother ever.
And so it goes... one of the days I knew was coming is finally here. I can't say I have mixed emotions about it, I pretty much knew how I would feel when the day came. I hurt for my mother's loss, as no parent should ever have to bury a child. I hurt for my sister on a lot of levels. Unfortunately, that's about it. Most of his kids killed my affection for them years ago. The two I do have feelings for, Nikki and Brian, are more like my own kids to me than his. Not surprising, as I sometimes feel like I helped finish raising them after he deserted them when they were very young.
We all deal with death in our own way. One of my friends went meltdown recently in regards to the aftermath of Michael's death and how some of the family is dealing with it. I suspect he is still dealing with the recent death of his own mother last year in addition to how his wife, one of Michael's daughters, is taking her father's death. My daughter mentioned raising a glass in toast to Michael's passing, she is glad he's gone. I'm right there with her. The friend got highly offended. Get over it. We all are entitled to our reactions to his passing. The man was a monster during part of his lifetime. You can't really be surprised. And I have no intention of rewriting history now that he is dead, and won't abide any of the rest of the family doing the same.
So here's to you, Michael. 66 years on this earth and now gone.
Good.
