Monday, August 28, 2006

Matthew Tyler Downing

Happy birthday, Matt.

You would have been 36 today.

And life would have been so very different.

Maybe losing my little brother so early in life was a kind of training for the losses to follow. Despite our short time on the planet together, I've never ceased thinking of you.

Love you, bro.

2 comments:

Maisy said...

I hadn't thought of this before, but I haven't forgotten early losses either. Those that die do stay in our memory, though I'm sure my parents think the deaths didn't register with me as they were not family but very close family friends.

Sad that Matt's not here. There never seems to be any sense to death not caused by old age.

Ali

TD said...

Thanks Ali. In Matt's case it was eating an entire bottle of One-a-Day iron supplements that did him in. Last I remember seeing him, he was on a hospital table with a crash team around him. He looked at me and we locked eyes for a moment. That was goodbye.

I've actually pondered the repercussions of Matt's death in earlier posts. It is possible that my folks might not have split up, or at least not when they did. In which case, I may never have met Samantha.

It's a tangled up universe, for sure. And there is a purpose to everything.