In our hearts

Harry's birthday is this week, I think he'd be 57. I may be off a year because I've lost count of how old I am. Time is irrelevant. Memory is what catches you in the throat. The present is often mixed up in these places. 

Harry is Richard's baby brother. Harry was a pip, I knew him when he was in high school determined to be different then everyone he knew. Or, at least that is the way I looked at it over 40 years. He accomplished his goal before he died.

In the end, the the last days for Rich, Harry shone. His tenderness and vulnerability, caring and heartbreak, his admission that anger didn't work, that when he found that out, he changed. I can only speak from my experience. Harry knew his time was precarious. Richard showed up for him when we thought Harry was dying, in hospice. Harry did the same for us when RIchard was dying.

Harry's purpose for living was to care for Sherry, his beloved. Both with medical problems. Harry was determined to beat the odds. He didn't. To say he went out fighting was an overstatement. I like to think of him going out loving.

Best wishes from the west coast Leon's to Harry's family on his birth date, May 21. Our hearts hurt with the thought, our arms empty at the missing, our spirits full of hope that we can carry his life within us and know that that has to be enough.

Uncle Harry, Jonathan, Grandpa Rich

Crista & Uncle Harry

Uncle Harry and Sara

Harry and Alice SF, CA

Harry's SF Bay Area sunset