Gone

I've been gone from here for over a week.  The truth is, my mind and my heart have been elsewhere.  For the third time in a few months, a close relative of mine has been in the hospital battling COVID.  For the third time in a few months, COVID has won the battle.  At 6:30 yesterday, my cousin Brian, who has been like the 5th sibling in my family as long as I can remember, was freed from the suffering he's endured the last month.  As my concern shifts from from Brian to his mom (whom I've always considered my second mom) and to my sister (who was as close to Brian as she is to me), I take comfort in the quote by Thomas Campbell "To live in hearts we leave behind is not to die." Brian's body may have passed on, but he will live vibrantly in our hearts forever.