The Beginning of Goodbye

A year ago this was the weekend that marked our family's journey of saying goodbye to Joe. Tony and David arrived home from school and prepared themselves to sleep at the foot of Joe's bed. When we suggested returning to McCallie they stubbornly dug in their heels, resisting any suggestion of that since it was the last months of their brother's life. Mike caught cat naps and slept through the night to keep working. At this point we stopped helping Joe up the stairs and he moved in to our bedroom. We read to him but he could not follow the stories, we talked about our memories but he could not remember, and as awkward as it sounds, we talked about the future. Joe was in the moment for a little while but he would always slip away. Two weeks from now he did not recognize his bothers or his dad. Seven weeks from now he thought every day was Thanksgiving. Six weeks from Thanksgiving Joe was gone. Ten months later we still remember Joe as he was, still looking at the door during every college break expecting him to arrive, still missing his beautiful face and his timely uncanny wit. But these are dreams and not reality.