My beautiful, witty, talented brother Bob died unexpectedly in his sleep a week ago today. He was 67. I still cannot find the words to express the loss. From the day I was born Bob was always there, and he remains a huge part of me. He was variously my role model, my confidante, my advisor (seldom a wise one), my entertainer, my friend, my co-conspirator, my collaborator, my flatmate, my burden, my rock, my protector, my teacher. As a child, almost everything Bob ever did I had to do too, and anything Bob had I had to have too. There was barely a moment that mattered that didn’t have Bob in it. A thousand different vignettes play out in my mind every day, a thousand trivial and momentous moments, a thousand times he changed my life.
Bob walked gently on the world, often drifting a little to its side and sometimes not quite in it. That world is an emptier, sadder place without him.
