Rembering Peter

Well it's midnight of March 31st. I cannot sleep for a variety of reasons, one of which being I seriously haven't tried that hard.

Nevertheless, I'd be remiss not to acknowledge what this day has meant to my family for a quarter of a century. Every year on this day, the date reminds us of the day my brother, Peter left the world as we know it at age 7 after a lifetime of complications.

I was so young, 4.5 months old. I naturally don't remember the one I would have called brother. What I am all too familiar with is the absence that his passing left on the family. I'm glad that he was born. The very fact of his birth and death has made me a gentler, more compassionate person. I like to think anyway. It is impossible and virtually fruitless to imagine what life would have been like with the boy. How can one imagine a life unknown?

I think of him sometimes at work, when I look into the eyes of one of my participants. I wonder what Peter would have been like had he survived to adulthood.

But people enter and leave our lives for reasons unexplained. What matters most in life is not why things happen or why people come and go. What matters most is how we respond to those situations - the good and the bad. Who do we put our trust in?

As for myself, I will acknowledge God. He makes clear the path that is unknown. He brings meaning and life to even the darkest of nights.