A Difficult Month
I'm sorry I haven't posted lately. That's not actually an apology, it's really just that I'm sorry I haven't posted. This blog is my vent, and I've needed one....
To tie up the loose ends from my last post, Susan and I worked things out. And I'm avoiding the whisky sours.
And to explain why I've needed a vent, on Friday, October 26, my older brother committed suicide. Let's just say that it wasn't the best Thanksgiving this year. I hope that you all had a much better holiday than my family did.
I've mentioned my brother here before. He's kind of the black sheep in the family. He's divorced, unemployed and can't seem to keep a job, living in our sister's basement. We probably should have seen that he's clinically depressed, and tried to do something, but what could we do? We helped him search job listings, and we helped maintain visitation rights with his daughter, and we kept him off the street. And I'm still talking about him in the present tense.
Anyway, that night, he drove out to his old high school, parked behind the football field, and took 17 vicodin with a pint of vodka. We called the police on Saturday afternoon, were told that a missing person report can't be filed until the person is missing for 48 hours, and some kids found him on Sunday. The police respond a little quicker when there's a body involved.
His daughter stayed with me and Susan through the funeral, and for a few weeks after, and then went back to her mom. I went back to work on the 10th. It's crazy, how things are just normal now.
I've never understood suicide, and I never will, and I miss my brother. I just wish I'd been a little nicer to the lug when I had the chance. And my sister wishes she'd kept the medicine cabinet locked, but that's whole other story. It's not her fault.
I'll try to get back to regular blogging as soon as I can. President Bush and Sec of State Rice are well on their way to making complete jackasses out of themselves at Annapolis this week, when they start licking the boots of every Arab diplomat they can get to show up, so there should be plenty of material if I want to get political.
Or maybe I'll tell stories about my brother.
To tie up the loose ends from my last post, Susan and I worked things out. And I'm avoiding the whisky sours.
And to explain why I've needed a vent, on Friday, October 26, my older brother committed suicide. Let's just say that it wasn't the best Thanksgiving this year. I hope that you all had a much better holiday than my family did.
I've mentioned my brother here before. He's kind of the black sheep in the family. He's divorced, unemployed and can't seem to keep a job, living in our sister's basement. We probably should have seen that he's clinically depressed, and tried to do something, but what could we do? We helped him search job listings, and we helped maintain visitation rights with his daughter, and we kept him off the street. And I'm still talking about him in the present tense.
Anyway, that night, he drove out to his old high school, parked behind the football field, and took 17 vicodin with a pint of vodka. We called the police on Saturday afternoon, were told that a missing person report can't be filed until the person is missing for 48 hours, and some kids found him on Sunday. The police respond a little quicker when there's a body involved.
His daughter stayed with me and Susan through the funeral, and for a few weeks after, and then went back to her mom. I went back to work on the 10th. It's crazy, how things are just normal now.
I've never understood suicide, and I never will, and I miss my brother. I just wish I'd been a little nicer to the lug when I had the chance. And my sister wishes she'd kept the medicine cabinet locked, but that's whole other story. It's not her fault.
I'll try to get back to regular blogging as soon as I can. President Bush and Sec of State Rice are well on their way to making complete jackasses out of themselves at Annapolis this week, when they start licking the boots of every Arab diplomat they can get to show up, so there should be plenty of material if I want to get political.
Or maybe I'll tell stories about my brother.
posted by carl r at
2:35 PM
7 Comments
