Carrying the Weight (02/16/2026)

I must apologize to all of you for my unexplained silence for so long. I do so recognizing that along the journey, we became connected souls, and you were worried. My beloved sister-in-law, sort of a sister by another mother, explained it very well: “It is carrying the weight of each other’s silences, heartbreaks, and healing.”

My silence was precipitated by my brother’s need. I received word that on his way to Mayo Clinic from Sioux City, Iowa, he’d suffered a debilitating stroke. He was eventually airlifted to Sioux Falls, South Dakota, and placed in the neurological ICU at Sanford Medical Center. I drove to Sioux Falls to be with my brother as well as helping his family. After three days, it was determined that his time was very short. The family decided to take him home to Sioux City. So, my husband and I drove to Sioux City to be nearby and to continue to help the family in any way possible.

This all came so suddenly. My brother didn’t know he was ill until his first stroke on January 1. In the following days, he learned he had stage 4 pancreatic cancer and that had caused that first stroke. He died surrounded by his family on February 9^th. His funeral was this past Saturday, ironically, Valentine’s Day.

While I was at my brother’s wake, my niece came to me and presented me with a photo of my brother, Randy, my sister, Betty, who died five years ago, and me. It made me cry. I had lost them both too soon. How I wish I’d known earlier.

During these weeks of silence, my head and heart were occupied. A couple of times, I sat and tried to write, but there were no words, no ideas, only the knowledge of the absence that was soon to come. My faith in our loving LORD, my hope in His promise, and my love for the LORD and my brother kept me afloat, but that’s not the same as “smooth sailing.”

As I write, I know that my brother will be all right. I am not called to judge, but I know my brother and I believe I know the LORD, and something inside me tells me my brother is home and I pray someday I may join him.

At this time, I ask that you hold my brother, Randy, and his family in your prayers.

I also pray, in honor of him and the man he was, a faithful and loving man and follower of Christ, that we all use our time this week being present to our family and friends, loving well at all times. Truly, we do not know the hour or day. So let us live in such a way that there are no regrets.

Until tomorrow, let us all love well.