Please bare with me while I ramble

[ashling]

My little brother would have been 52 last month. I hope you don't mind if I share few pics of him. He was a good kid.
Smart, loving, gentle, giving, and did I mention smart. He might have been the best of all of us ... I'm sure he was the smartest (LOL)

Glenn was a graduate of Rice University and the University of Texas Medical School in Galveston. When he was still in high school he joined Los Amigos de las Americas and spent several summers in Latin America (Nicaragua, Beliz, Guatamala and Puerto Rico)putting in water wells and other health related activities.

He spoke fluent Spanish. I listened in to him on the phone making a reservation at a place in Cancun. I couldn't tell which was Glenn and which was the Mexican hotel clerk.

He did his residency and interned at Beth Israel in New York City. I visited him there one weekend. We got up early Saturday and had breakfast at a little Polish diner. Then we walked through through Little Italy (I think) down to Washington Park and to the Battery Park and up to where you get the boat to the Statue.

He was a psychiatrist. He and his partner, Tom, bought a little farm in Morris, New York where I visited him with the kids one winter. The picture below was taken at Cranberry Cottage in upstate in the Catskills. I forget where, but I remember there was skiing nearby.


That's me on the right, Glenn is the tall one in back. His partner Tom is holding my youngest, Abby. And my oldest, Lori, is leaning on Glenn

We lost Glenn to AIDS in 1996. I flew to see him one last time in the hospital in New York City. He was in a lot of pain and on a morphine drip. He was skin and bones. The closest image I can think of was the pictures I have seen of Rameses' mummy.
He had stopped taking any other meds and had decided to go to hospice near the farm.

During my visit he was concerned about one thing: me. He wanted me to be ok with his death...and the rest of the family. I'll never forget that///please excuse the typos ....

I asked him if he remembered our trip to Glacier Nat'l park. He and I had gone off together on a hike to see a Glacier. It was several miles and about 2,000 ft more in elevation. We were maybe about halfway when Glenn (he was still a kid) kept getting tired and wanted to turn back. I kept nudging him on, saying that we would stop and rest just up around the bend in the trail.

There in the hospital I told him that I guessed I was going to let him go ahead this time and I would just have to go back to camp, but that I would catch up later. When I finally had to leave I told him that I'd see hi, around the bend.

Thanks for listening.

[pacalo]

1. That's a beautiful tribute to your brother, ashling.

Your pride and love for him shine through. I know you must miss him terribly.

:hug:

[Callalily]

2. Glenn sounds like a very

special person. You wrote a truly moving tribute to your brother.

RIP Glenn

[MiddleFingerMom]

3. What a nice tribute. You were fortunate to have each other He obviously lives on in your heart. n/t

[freshwest]

4. I'm glad you were able to share your love saying goodbye, and you shared his life with us here.

Sometimes, permission seems to be needed in passing. His life was a brilliant star because of all his gifts to mankind in his chosen profession. His love and family have not been lost in the eternal reckoning. We miss our loved ones who've passed on more keenly at this time of year. Your giving spirit and deep love of beauty and life are appreciated and a gift I look forward to when I see your name on a post in the Lounge. What a beautiful picture and life you have described. And 'death be not proud' as he is still loved and not forgotten. He lives on in the advenures you have shared.

:hug:

[raccoon]

5. I'm sorry for your loss. Glenn sounds like a real nice person. nt

[rrneck]

6. Thank you.

This is a difficult time of year for me. I lost someone about thirty years ago and it still hurts. I am sorry you lost Glenn but you remember him well. I would be proud and grateful to be remembered with such inspiration and joy.

[ashling]

9. Thanks

My dad died on 11/28/1998

[Kali]

7. ...

:hug:

[deutsey]

8. Thank you for sharing that.

I'm sorry for your loss.

[RebelOne]

10. That is a wonderful remembrance of your brother. n/t

[Flaxbee]

11. Thanks, ashling

I'm also remembering; my dad died a year ago tomorrow (12/3). He was a psychiatrist, too. Different to lose a parent, where it's more expected, than a sibling, but a loss nonetheless.

Glenn sounds like he was a terrific guy. Did you stay in touch with his partner Tom?

[Phentex]

12. Fun picture...

I'm sure the loss still hurts.

:hug:

[blueamy66]

13. beautiful

I lost my brother when he was 38. I feel your pain.

Thanks for telling your story.