My big brother took his last breath last Thursday August 3. He was surrounded by family and his best friends. It was an honor to be with him in his final week.
He fought cancer admirably for 14 years. He was determined to watch his kids grow up. Gosh, he loved Jill, Ryan, and Emma so much and it showed how much they were #1 in everything he did. Jill and Eric stayed aggressive with treatment and it worked for a long time, giving them the ability to raise their kids the way they hoped: living life fully, traveling a lot, finding success in Eric's career, and being there for their kids.
He was incredibly funny and so ridiculously smart. His humor could be witty, silly, or completely inappropriate. I loved it. We would sing the Luv's jingle "A baby's comfort begins with Luvs, Luv" over and over as a game as to if we end on harmony or same. Also, this darn Stetson's commercial jingle we would sing and over analyze. My sister has many more of these types of silly memories with him because they were closer in age. I'm going to miss our banter and his witty comebacks. His elephant memory means so many details of our family are gone with him. It's incredible how much he could recall.
I used to sneak into his bedroom to check out my cool older brother's stuff. His bedroom door was covered in newspaper clippings of UofM basketball Fab 5. I got introduced to his love of Guns N Roses at a young age and boy did he love Sweet Child O Mine. The back of his headboard was a rock climbing wall of old gum. Otherwise, his room was surprisingly kept quite tidy.
I watched with teenage eyes as he began his adult life making so many great friends in college, starting his first job, falling in love, marrying Jill, and becoming such a proud Dad to Ryan and Emma. I was so busy being self absorbed in my teenage and early college years but it was never lost on me how much I admired him as he helped shape who I am and who I gravitate towards. I actually thought he was cool.
We have been sharing and trading music playlists regularly since the cassette era. Then, it moved to the CD era where he had an impressive CD collection that he very much preferred in alphabetical order. It all eventually evolved to sharing end of year playlists with each other in this last phase. Music was easily one of his ways to connect. At my wedding which he emceed, we rocked out hard to the Killers "Soul but not a Soldier" - easily a top memory for me.
I'm going to miss our big family trips together and making new memories as well as reminiscing about old memories. So many old family stories that would probably make Nate and Jill think "not this again" but sharing stories is what we did. What a hard time we gave Eric for loving his shark tooth necklace from Mexico, his ability to only play one song on the piano - Drummer Boy, and how he would sing like Bob Dylan. Eric loved fireworks so much that he started putting on an impressive show at the beach by his cottage at Thunder Road.
I'm going to miss his big expressive eyes. Sure, his height stood out, but it's his eyes that I know will stick with me. He knew how to be a lazy punk at times but no question, those who knew him saw his softer and more sensitive side; he could be quite sweet and playful. It showed in his eyes.
I have this one very vivid memory when I was young, watching Family Ties with Eric and Sonya in my parent's bedroom on this little TV they had on their dresser. There was this one scene where the Dad did something really silly with candlesticks while trying to spy on Mallory. We all laughed so hard together. It stuck with me. I've started watching the series again with my family in part to find that episode.
Eric suffered so much and really didn't complain. For his last 15 months, Jill worked tirelessly to take care of him. It was like whack-a-mole game while riding a rollercoaster with him constantly in and out of hospitals. I'm glad Eric is no longer in that torture chamber of a body with everything it went through. I really believed he'd be the poster child for acupuncture and oxygen treatments to bring him to a sustainable new quality of life. Even though alternative treatments didn't help him long term, they did help him enjoy one final summer with his family.
Rest in peace Eric.
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