Unexpected Blessings

There was a missed call from my brother, Josh, right before I left my store to go visit my dad in the ICU. Although we shared responsibilities for my dad, Josh was out of state and handled most of the financial pieces. Usually we texted.

I’m four years older than Josh, and was in college before he even began high school. We hadn’t been close. Both of us are stubborn and opinionated; our relationship had been rocky. He, the eldest boy, me, the eldest child. Although we’d been roommates for a bit before he got married, his wife’s studies in New York took him far from home.

Over the course of caring for my dad though, Josh and I had grown closer. Out of the five of us, he and I shared the legal responsibilities: him, the money; me, the medical. We shared the added stress of balancing decisions and communicating with third parties.

I got in my car and called him back before I left the parking garage. He had hard news for me about changes to Dad’s palliative care and wanted to talk about it. I hung up, shaken, but grateful that by working together, we’d also been able to piece by piece rebuild our friendship, as adults, not children. As equals and partners, focused together on a common goal: helping our father.