On February 8, 2008 our world was turned upside down.
I'm from a family of seven. Three older sisters and three older brothers, two of my brothers are twins. My mother is 78. My father passed away in 1980.
On the early morning of Feb 8, I received a phone call on my way to work. I answered to a call of screams, sorrow and cries in the background. It was one of my sisters informing me that one of the twins, my brother Brian had been found dead in his bed. He had died unexpectedly in his sleep of a heart attack at the age of 52.
Brian leaves behind 3 loving daughters, 6 brothers and sisters, 16 nieces & nephews, 7 great nieces and nephews, and a very caring loving mother, and many many friends. His entertaining, goofiness, joy and laughter will be missed by us all. He always acted like he was in his early twenty's. He was such a goof!
Brian's other love was Harley-Davidson cycles and The American bald eagle. He started riding in the early 70's and had everything from Pan heads, Shovel heads, Ev's and Twin cams. His most recent bike was an '07 Street Glide. Brian & I were in the process of (in his words) making it "really cool & custom." He showed his pride in the American eagle through his extensive collection of eagle tattoo's (one of which was a full back tattoo of an eagle diving for it's prey), limited edition paintings, and eagle statues. He also took pride in making beautiful one of a kind stained glass for his family & friends.
Through all of our tears, grief and sorrow we had a few instances that Brian's spirit is telling us that everything is going to be OK.
For example; On the Sunday after his passing his twin brother Brad had a Red Tailed hawk land on the window sill of his house. It just sat there and stared in the house at Brad for several minutes as if it was telling him that all is going to be fine and not to worry. Then it peacefully flew away.
On Tuesday Feb. 12, the day of Brian's funeral an American bald eagle was spotted in Fort Atkinson (it's very rare that an eagle is in our part of the state). It was seen flying on Riverside Drive in Fort Atkinson. Riverside Drive is where Brian raised his three daughters. We strongly believe that through God's help this is Brian's spirit telling us that even though he's gone, his spirit is still with us. (I attached a clipping form the local paper)
To my brother Brian,
"No farewell words were spoken, no time to say good-bye,
You were gone before we knew it, and only God knows why."
"We will miss our dad, son, brother uncle, great-uncle and friend."
Fly free my brother, fly free......
With all my love,
Your brother Mark
Thank you all for listening.
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Topic: Loss of a brother (Read 5914 times)