Orange Sky

Well, I had a dream

I stood beneath an orange sky

Yes I had a dream

I stood beneath an orange sky

With my brother standing by

With my brother standing by

I said, "Brother, you know you know

it's a long road we've been walking on

Brother, you know it is you know it is

Such a long road we've been walking on."

{Alexi Murdoch, lyrics}

Sometimes,

when you've been feeling like crap,
a good thing happens in the middle of the pity party you've been throwing.

Your brother sends you cute photos of your little nephew.

Photos of his family

and some play time in the water.

And the sunshine smiles brighten your {otherwise} miserable day.

And the knowledge of how

completely

stinkin'

happy

your brother is brings tears to your eyes.

The good kind of tears.

And then...

you really start to miss him.

And feeeeeeeeeeeel all those many miles that separate you.

And you get all nostalgic

and start looking at scrapbooks.

Then,

because you're already nursing the worst cold in the history of mankind,
and this is, after all, a pity party,

you get all

"woe is me"

and

"where did the time go"

and

"why am I not on a beach...."

So,

you go to bed.

And dream.

And, as is often the case,

when my brother is on my heart,

he is also very close to me in my dreams.

At some point last night,

as I fitfully slept and coughed and slept some more,

we swam together.

And for that moment
there was no cold,
no melancholy,
no distance...
only peace
and laughter
and
the two of us.
Still together.
As close as ever as we navigate this
long road called life.





Joining Kathy for
Song-ography

Black & White Wednesdays ~ Home

Father and Son

I sit with this photograph

and I search for words.

There have been many twists and turns in the path

that has led my brother

to this place.

He has longed for family,

yet never settled for less than truth

and true love.

He has known that the finding of a soul mate

was worth the wait.

And find her he did.

They are now three.

And my journeyman brother has found

home

in a way he's never known.

Join us here and share your 

Black & White photos!

I'm also linking up with

Wednesdays Around the World

Black & White Wednesday: 50th

When your brother turns 50

and lives in Hawaii....

you make him a sentimental gift and send it via air-mail...

and try not to be too sad that you can't spend the day with him.

Enough about me.

My renaissance man of a brother
is a kind man.
He truly lives as he imagines
and follows his dreams
all around the world.
He inspires me,
teaches me
learns with me
and loves me.

Happy Birthday, baby brother.
I love you right back.

Six Word Fridays ~ Rest

The billboard said "DINER - easy off -

easy on - Exit 10" Sounded perfect.

We were both hungry and ready 

for a road trip rest stop.

As we neared the exit my

brother said....it's the Newtown exit.

Yes, that Newton. We were silenced.

This place was familiar - I'd stopped

here before.....today there were black

ribbons hanging with the Christmas lights.

Baskets for donations. And wrist bands.

Today we remembered. And as we

remembered we shared our hearts, spoke

of our children, of our childhood.

We are glad to be together,

grateful for this special time with

our dad...holding on to the

good. Rest in peace, little ones.

Firsts

I learned something this morning.

A little bit of history...

and I was reminded of something that I love about my brother.

That's my brother, on the far right, in the jeans....with the guitar.

And, yes, the photo was taken almost 20 years ago.

At the time my brother worked for CERN

{an international organization who's purpose is to operate the world's largest particle physics laboratory}

Some of his co-workers, spouses and friends had a band.

"Les Horribles Cernettes"

Turns out that the

VERY FIRST PHOTO TO BE PUT UP ON THE WORLD WIDE WEB

was of the band's female vocalists.

Here's a GREAT ARTICLE about that first photo.
Take a second to read it - it's worth it!

What I learned from this article

 is that next Wednesday (7/18) marks the 20th anniversary 

of the day the first photo was put up on the web.

And that my brother was there.

Actually there. And actually knew the people that were in the photo,

took the photo, edited it and sent it out. 

"as a test!"

He worked with the earliest versions of so much of this computer stuff that we use today

{and blog with!}

and take so much for granted.

I remember him talking about all of it, and telling us a bit about what it was going to be....

Truth be told, I rarely understood him!

So, all that is very interesting - for sure!

And one point that the article about the photo makes is that, often,

"firsts" are just accidents....or nothing too monumental.

And, it's only when put in historical context that they become so astounding.

For me, though, the bigger picture in all this has to do with my brother.

My brother is a very gentle, understated kind of guy.

Physicist, musician, athlete....philosopher!

He follows his heart through life - which we all say we'd like to do, but he really does.

And, without any fanfare, or need to show off his accomplishments,

he {quietly} sees and does many remarkable, cutting edge

and adventurous things.

It's refreshing - in a culture where "bigger is {often seen as} better" and 

money seems the goal for many and "firsts" are now tweeted, facebooked, blogged

and otherwise trumpeted world wide...

that there's a man who considers that the being there...

the living of the moment....

is really what counts every day.

And I'm really glad he's my brother.

My Two J's

6/17/12

I do love it when my brother comes to visit....

...all the way from Maui.

He's a friend, a confidant, a comforter and a sounding board.

He and my son have some things in common.

Soccer.

The number 13.

They actually share quite a few physical 

and character traits.

And whenever my brother comes around, 

my son gets called the wrong name for a while after he leaves.

I can't seem to help it!

Sorry, Jer!

{miss you already, John}

Birthday Boy

happy birthday to 

my

star gazing

wave catching

music writing

body stretching

heart following

favorite

one and only

baby brother

Linking up with Heidi!

Long, long ago...

Do you look back at childhood photos and see yourself?

Or do you ask, who is this? Do I know them?

Cause I can't find myself in this photo...yet there I am.

With my brother.

Who's on his way to India for a month to learn from a Yoga master.

I ask again, who are these two??
{We've come a long way, baby brother.}

Superhero

"Sometimes being a brother

is even better than being a superhero"

Marc Brown

This last couple of weeks my brother has been my superhero ~

He has swooped in and calmed my heart.

From high atop his Maui volcano, he has responded to

my call for help.

His super power is hidden in his words of wisdom, 

his tales of chiseled statues

and his emails seasoned with dry witticisms.

I have a feeling I'm gonna be a tad needy these next few months.

(ahem)

Good to know his powers are limitless,

renewed by sun and surf,

and at my beck and call!