greg
i have a younger brother and a younger sister. you’ve heard about the sister before.
my brother is 19. he just finished his freshman year of college. he’s a baby, really. but he’s a good bro with a nice girlfriend. he has blue eyes and black hair that is mostly grey at this point.
in the past two weeks, my brother has lost two friends. two friends who were nineteen and twenty years old and too young to die. he seems lost, a little bit put off. he’s not one to express his emotions but today he said to me:
“i’m pretty sad about rj, i just can’t believe it.” he said this today, two days after finding out his friend passed away from lyme’s disease. a seemingly inane ailment that killed him while he slept.
i’ve never had a friend die. i’ve never been to a funeral for someone younger than forty. i’ve never lined up with hundreds of classmates and bid farewell to someone too young.
and he’s had to deal with it. twice in two weeks.
it just makes me so fucking sad and there’s no eloquent way to put it. sometimes people die. and i never think about it. i never actually think about my own death. i only fear the death of those close to me.
these kids didn’t see it coming. my brother didn’t see it coming.
and i think: what to do, what to do. remember life is short? small details don’t matter? hold on?
let’s just hold on and think before we act, speak. remember. move on. let it go. live.
fuck, life is short.
