A Death in the Family

Ever since I heard the news I've been trying to process and digest, and I'm just now at a place where I can even begin to write it down in this forum.

One of my brothers was killed in a car accident last Saturday morning, in Pennsylvania. He was the passenger in a SUV that hit the back of a street sweeper at full speed. He wasn't wearing a seat belt and was ejected from the vehicle through the windshield; he was killed instantly. The driver, his wife's best friend, was wearing a seat belt and sustained multiple rib fractures and a broken arm, along with various cuts and bruises. She will be fine, physically at least. He leaves behind a wife, three step-daughters, the youngest only 5 years old, as well as two ex-wives and three daughters in their 20's. My other brother (his twin) will be the sole family member at the memorial service on Thursday.

I haven't spoken to him in almost 15 years. I'll tell that story in a future post. In order to heal myself, I had to cut him out of my life, and he's been dead to me for a long time. Now he really IS dead, and I'm having a difficult time wrapping my brain around the concept.

I just wanted to at least get started on this topic and put the facts out there. Perhaps it would have been more cathartic to write while I was still in the initial shock of it all, but I feared it would be too scattered for an audience without any historical reference to figure out. Family is indeed a strange beast.