I’m not really even sure what to say today.
Happy Birthday Brooke.
You captivating human.
Quite the pouty face.
About the cutest baby human around.
And the funniest.
Despite my charming haircut, I love these pictures.
And how lady like Brooke and I are sitting.
Susan tells me that Brooke used to sit by my crib and remain very attentive when I was a babe.
I love that.
We are our mother’s daughters.
Brooke and her life was beautiful. Brooke and her life is the most beautiful part about mine. And that’s the thing isn’t it? The way her existence and her exit makes our family what it is. As a whole and individually. Things and people are pretty until tragedy strikes, and then they’re beautiful.
It was a privilege being her sister. It was a privilege knowing her and loving her and being loved by her. It was a privilege to watch my mother give her life to Brooke. It was a privilege knowing my father so instantaneously cared for Brooke when they first met. It softens and weighs on my heart at the same time to know my mother lost her baby girl. But what a touching story it was to watch, and an even more moving story to live.
This is a foundational pillar of what makes my family who they are. She’s given me a dynamic to my life that is romantic and “heavy” with true depth. She’s allowed my life to be something of substance made from the raw fibers of her time with us.
I think this is true about most people. (Where in Tony would say, But I’m not most people)…There’s something in everyone’s life that brings meaning and depth and heaviness and brings beauty out of tragedy or loss. We all have a Brooke. Even my parents have a different brand of Brooke than I do. My brothers have a different Brooke than I do. And people have Brooke’s yet to come.
This is what makes everything worth it. Brooke’s are the point. They make things real. They define what love is to us. What endurance is to us. What intimacy is to us. These happenings that make you heavy, a romantic, sensitive and impressionable, make you vulnerable, those are the monuments that matter. If you don’t see them or appreciate them for what they are, you are missing the point.
Can you tell I went pilfering through old photos at Tony and Susan’s today…
We can get so plucked in a moment as if it is the end all be all of all moments. But sweet girl, if we’d only tilt our heads up. Intentionally look at the sky, galaxy, stars, forever beyond…it changes everything.
