I wasn’t the only one affected by my parent’s deaths. My brothers, our families and friends were also very involved and impacted by our parent’s illnesses. Everything I write here, obviously, is my experience and my version of how things happened and what I did in the aftermath. Others had different experiences. I know my brothers and I sometimes disagreed and fought. One of the things I am most proud of is that my brothers and I managed to weather the storm and not do any irreparable damage to our relationships. We came out on the other side of a very difficult path together.  While I am on the topic of my brothers I should say how glad I am that my parents had all of us.  (Well the two of them were discovered in a dumpster after a circus left town, but I digress, that is another story 😉 ) I cannot imagine living through what we did without them. And now although we are all spread out they are my link to our shared history and a shared history is a powerful connection.  Lots of love to my big brothers.