Yesterday after dinner (it was a holiday here, German Unity Day), we felt like having coffee. We had drunk our pot from the morning. So I grabbed a couple of cups and went downstairs to the bakery and said "fill 'em up with Segafredo" and then took them back upstairs to drink with Brian. Yum! I love this neighbourhood. (Thanks for the photo of "our" bakery, Isaac!)

The two smiling boys are my husband Brian (the elder) and his brother Mark, who died last month of oral cancer at the age of 52. Brian and his sister Jo Ellen had many tales to tell of life growing up with Mark, who was the difficult middle child, so it seems. Brian always said Mark was the smartest of the three, a talented musician, funny, intelligent, open to everything and pretty much anything. But he was the one often in trouble, the one constantly pushing at the boundaries, and he led a life with many highs but also very many lows. For example, he got straight A's one semester on a challenge from their Dad - the one and only time, to prove he could do it. He just wasn't interested. Brian often felt guilty, felt maybe he helped to make Mark the rebel he was, because he himself was quiet, obedient, studious, neat. I mean, siblings always have to be different than the elder ones, right? My favorite story of Mark: Mark (maybe 10 or so at the time) was misbehaving in some way or other at the family dinner table and their Dad said "Mark, do you want a crack across the backside?" He looked at Dad with a straight face and said "I already have one." Brian said their Dad tried keeping a stern face, but Brian could tell he was trying to keep from bursting out laughing.
This is what Jo Ellen had put in the paper for his obituary:



MARK P. W., Age 52, of Orlando, passed away Saturday, April 21, 2007 following a brave battle with cancer. Born in Hartford, CT, Mark relocated to Central Florida in 1978 and was employed in the restaurant industry. Those who knew Mark will remember not only his intelligence, wit, and selfless generosity, but also his enduring sense of humor, even as life's most difficult circumstances came to bear.

This is how we will remember Mark.