Hello reader,
Longest title...and this is about to be one long post because I have a lot to say.
Yesterday marked one whole year since one of the greatest people I've ever had the pleasure of knowing passed away. My older brother, my daddy, my best friend...a truly amazing person. When he passed away my family was broken, I was broken. He was one of the good guys, and his death had a profound impact on EVERYONE who knew him, and I want everyone to know the kind of person he was, I'm going to honour his memory by talking about him from my perspective.
Most of the good memories that I have, my older brother is in them. Despite the huge age gap between us, with him being 16 years older than me, we were really close. I spent so much time with him and I loved every moment. I called his family my second family and I was always over at their house babysitting my three nephews, so much actually, that I started subconsciously calling him Daddy like his kids.
The thing about my older brother, is that he was always there whenever you needed him. You didn't always have to ask, he would offer and if you do ask, he was always happy to help. Plenty of times when I needed someone to fetch me from school and both my parents couldn't, I'd send him a message and a few minutes later he would come from work to fetch me and if he could, take me home.
When I was younger I was so awed by him. I looked up to him; literally and figuratively. Haha I used to think he was the tallest person in the world and I told all my friends that 'he is very, very tall." He was great fun to be around as well. One of my earliest memories of him is back when I was 3 or 4 at my first home. I was in the living room with him, my sister and my other brother and I asked for a 'baloney'. I was adamant that I should get one and being a good sport that he is, he took one of the latex hand gloves, blew it up to epidermic proportions in my little eyes and gave it to me. Happily, I took it outside and (to my siblings; yes I remember!) I saw him put a finger on his lips to shush my siblings. Why, I did not know but I knew a few moments later. I took the glove balloon to the lawn and sat on it. Well, balloons and grass don't mix but 3 year old me did not know that. It exploded, they all laughed and I cried. Still one of my fondest memories haha.
The one thing I will always cherish about my brother is his loud, booming voice and how he loved to exaggeratedly sing to us and his big warm, hugs. He put his family first as well. He wasn't too cool to hang out with his little brothers and sisters (that was only when he was a little older though haha!) He loved playing TV games (who remembers those?) with my siblings and I, well I mostly observed since that's what I liked to do. He loved playing this other game which name I'm struggling to remember (I think it was called Spartan or something?) and at the end of each round the character would let out this evil booming laugh that my older brother loved impersonating much to my siblings and I's amusement. It was great! However, when I say he loved playing games with us, I probably really meant he hoarded the controls and made us watch hahaha!
I believe my brother was every mother's dream child. Some nights my mother would work night shifts and she'd leave us in my older brother's care. He'd cook for us (dang he was a great cook!), make sure our school uniform's in order and he once went as far as to happily plait my hair so I wouldn't have a bad hair day! How amazing!?
When I was away at college he used to always ask me when I'll be back home and when I came back home, he'd be there fetching me from the bus station, always enveloping me in a big hug and a "my leeetle sistah!" greeting. I always had those hugs to look forward to. When it was time for me to go back to college he'd offer to drive me all the way there. I loved our road-trips as well. Once he offered to drive me back to my flat and it was just the two of us in the car, with him singing or just quietly listening to loud music or the radio and he would just joke around and tease me. He took a road I did not know just to give me a new experience and it was so awesome. This is just a few things he did for me. He did much more amazing things for my siblings, his family (he loved them sooo much and his house was always full of laughter and happy kids), my parents, his friends and our cousins. He was a man of action, he showed his love through actions that are still appreciated to this day.
During his last days there was a funeral that my Mother and I went to. I was anti-social that day and I opted to stay in the car until the funeral was over. My older brother came and sat with me in the car for the entire day! We had parked in front of a shop and he would get out to buy bags of crisps and cans of soda for me even when I said I was alright, he kept feeding me. "What do you want?" He asked. "Choose anything you want." He said. He kept drinking a lot of water and napping in the car then. When he awoke he gave me his phone and asked me to take a lot of photos for him and his beret (of which he hilariously told me the proper pronunciation of). We did a little photo shoot and I still have those photos.
My older brother was nothing sort of amazing. His death came at an already difficult time for me (2013 sucked a lot for my family and I) and it destroyed me, I went over the edge and sunk into depression. I don't even know how I made it to this day, still sane and able to smile and be happy and optimistic again. However, I feel really awed and blessed knowing I had this kind of guy in my life and he was my brother. Even though he is gone, I still look up to him. I'll always have these memories to remember and I will always have him in my heart.
-Bella
