Thanks to everyone who has checked in on me the last couple of weeks. I never know how March will hit me. My kids realized this year that Bryan died 2 weeks before his 30th birthday. They had not understood that the events were so close together. It's been 16 years since I lost my brother. If you ever want to figure out how long Bryan has been gone, just ask Asher how old he is. I was 3 months pregnant with him when I got the call that no one ever wants. When we found out we were having another boy, one of my fears was, what if he looks like Bryan? I wasn't sure how my parents or I would handle that. At birth, the only thing Asher shared with his uncle and his mom was those big brown eyes. Over the years, I see pieces of Bryan in all my kids. Which really means they are pieces of me in all of them. Once Asher hit the teenage years, he began to look more like Bryan did as a teen. He now has the joy of strangers telling him he looks like Uncle Bryan. I have a few friends who I've known since High School, which means they knew Bryan. They tell me all the time he is a carbon copy of my brother. Asher has gotten used to it, but for the most part, he just thinks everyone is crazy. Until a few weeks ago. He was scrolling facebook and a picture popped up. He told me later that he was so confused about where he was with his uncles and mom. He said it took him a few minutes to realize it was an old picture of my brothers and me. Asher thought he was Bryan. So he now gets why everyone thinks he looks like Bryan. Here is the picture:
My grandma's sister passed away before my dad was born. I've heard about her my whole life. As a child, I always thought it was weird that we talked about a dead person most of us never knew. Until I lost my brother, now I get it. My kids know all about Bryan. Asher never met him but knows he looks just like the teenager version of him. We will see if he continues to age like Bryan. On that note, my kids love to hear stories about him. If you knew Bryan, feel free to share with them stories I may not know about.
