Yesterday my husband received a call from his brother in Hawaii. He has three brothers - no sisters and he (my husband) is the eldest (or is it oldest? I can never remember). The four brothers are close in an odd kind of way -- at least it's odd to me. They see each other during the holidays and to celebrate their father's birthday every few years. When Don called, I got the feeling he was calling with bad news. We had all been together in Florida celebrating their father's 95th birthday just 8 weeks ago. Somehow I got a sense that Don was calling to say that their father had passed. But that was not it.
Don was calling to tell my husband that his brother Dave -- the one who was second in birth order -- had passed away. This news was unexpected and shocking. As of this writing, we're not sure of the cause of death but suspect he may have had a heart attack.
We had spoken to Dave on Sept 16th -- his birthday and had seen him just a few weeks before. He seemed to be doing great. But now he's gone.
Tomorrow morning my husband and I will drive to Nevada to make arrangements and to get Dave's affairs in order. Not sure how much we'll be able to accomplish because Dave didn't have a will and there won't be a death certificate for a few weeks (I think).
Aside from the sadness of the loss -- my husband and I will have to deal with the house where Dave died. We are not sure how long after his death he was discovered but it could have been a week.
I am not looking forward to cleaning up the house. I know there are professional services that specialize in that kind of cleaning and I have found one in the area but my husband wants us to go into the house and access it before we hire professionals.
I'm not sure why I'm writing this here. I guess I just wanted to share while at the same time maintain a little anonymity.
Not looking forward to tomorrow.