Comments on: The last man standing

By: Betsy Bell

Betsy Bell — Fri, 12 Apr 2013 05:46:09 +0000

In reply to eva merrick. Thanks, Eva. I appreciate your comments and love writing with you. Betsy

By: eva merrick

eva merrick — Fri, 12 Apr 2013 04:56:41 +0000

Betsy, your stories are wonderful and ring true. You remember so vividly that you inspire me to recollect more of a childhood I have long tried to forget. My heartfelt sympathy over the death of your brother. Be assured of the love and support of many as you make this sad trip home.

By: Betsy Bell

Betsy Bell — Thu, 11 Apr 2013 23:44:57 +0000

In reply to nancy geddes. Thanks, nancy. Yes, in my writing group today, people who asking how I couldremember with such detail. I'm glad I can. However, it is all fiction, is it not? Memory as I said, is mine.

By: nancy geddes

nancy geddes — Thu, 11 Apr 2013 23:40:27 +0000

It must be sad to lose not only a sibling but be the last one left in your family. Yet, you are blessed with your ability to garner such detailed memories of the times you did have with your brother. When my 93 year old aunt, Shirley, passed away last November, I had no idea I would be reliving her words in my mind each day she has been gone. She was the last of her family with too many untold stories. I went back to the Chicago Area for her funeral and found it exhiliarating to be around family and friends who knew for with similiar reflections of her acute and wise mind. Sharing memories is the way I begin to bear the losses. Yet, your brother had more years to live. I shall read the piece on strokes as you have suggested.

By: Betsy Bell

Betsy Bell — Thu, 11 Apr 2013 23:37:52 +0000

In reply to Wendy Townsend. Beautiful comment, Wendy. I know my experiences shaped me and can only surmise that his did, too.

By: Betsy Bell

Betsy Bell — Thu, 11 Apr 2013 23:36:48 +0000

In reply to Diana MacFarland. Alice, thanks for your comment. I love you.

By: Wendy Townsend

Wendy Townsend — Thu, 11 Apr 2013 23:14:27 +0000

You wrote that the memories have little to do with the man he was to become. My take on that is different, I think those memories have everything to do with the man Eric was to become. And the impact of that enromous freedom we had as youngsters to go out all day for neighborhood adventures, unsupervised, built us into the people we are today.

I grew up about the same time period, in Eastern Pennsylvania in a small town. Four younger brothers and I adored each one. Still do, although one is gone.

The emotional intelligence we developed in those childhood days, the sharing with siblings and friends, the emerging responsibilities of being the oldest. Those childhoods gave us out foundation for who we are now!

A few years ago we got together in Vermont with my youngest brother’s family to scatter some of his ashes and afterwards had a discussion about who wanted to keep the urn, none of us wanted to take it home with us and my Vermont brother said he would keep it but not in plain sight. I am sure all of us wondered which would be the next person to become ashes in an urn.

So sorry to learn about your brother’s passing, Betsy! Your love for him endures, as do the memories..

By: Diana MacFarland

Diana MacFarland — Thu, 11 Apr 2013 22:59:37 +0000

Dear Betsy, as one of 5 adult siblings ages 78 through 64 who have been blessed so far with reasonably good health, I feel acutely your loss, the deep deep hole of aloneness. Continue to cherish your memories and keep them alive by sharing them with others. I live your stories with you as you tell them. I write this with heartfelt love and sympathy. xoxo hugs