sweetness follows

To paraphrase Dickens, these are the happiest of days and they are the saddest of days. On the heels of Matt's 16th birthday comes the sad realization that our family is soon to lose a special member. Tom's brother Charlie was placed into hospice care on Friday night. We have all been processing all that this involves. This beautiful REM song, Sweetness Follows, has been humming through my head for obvious reasons. I especially like this live performance and the slow tempo that Michael Stipe takes here. Perfect.

Charlie always had a smile on his face, and was a loving, kind, fun person. His family members, and especially his twin brother and best friend Paul, will forever miss him. We know that his death is imminent. We are all preparing ourselves as best as we can. And in the days that follow, we will take solace in many happy memories and in photos from throughout the years. What I hope will never leave me is that I can actually conjure up a sense of his voice and his laugh inside my head. I can't explain how exactly, but if I heard his voice right this moment, I would say "hey - it's Charlie!" For now, we turn to helping Matt cope with his first "close" loss of favorite uncle Chaz. They had a special bond - and I think each of Charlie's nieces and nephews feel the same way.

Charlie was a frequent visitor to this blog and he often told me which musical selections he especially liked. (He loved music as much as I do and we shared a love of Pink Floyd and The Beatles and more.) I think he would like this pick -- and for Charlie, I wish nothing but sweetness. Here are a couple of photos from several years ago. I love these photos.