Norbert

Today would have been my late brother's birthday and he (Norbert) would have been 57 if he had survived the event of early 1974.  I was fourteen months older than him.  This is a photo of us during the first Christmas in Canada in December 1957.  Norbert is in the foreground and I in the back.  I was able to suppress the emotions for years but since the last of our parents passed on in 1999 (mother), an event last year brought it all out and may have lead to the first of my two mini-strokes or may have been at the same time as the stroke.  Who knows!  I had been waiting for months for Brad to show up from the east coast.  When he didn't show up, I was scanning earlier photos of my brother and others.  The emotions came out and I wept for days in private as I was trying to make sense of everything.  I do not fault Brad  for anything.  I'm sure he had his reason and was dealing with his own demons!

Anyway, Norbert and I had spent most of his years sharing the same bedroom, so his passing was very difficult in the beginning.  Later as I was occupied with other situations and events over the years, the emotions concerning his death were pushed back in my mind.  The event of 2010 brought it all out again.  Such is life.  We take the good with the bad and make the most of it as best we can.  Its a difficult time of year so close to Christmas! - V