meaning of life

Last Tuesday I received a phone call from my brother telling me that one of my other brother's was really ill and in the hospital in ICU. My brother Kenny lives in Texas and is an alcoholic. I am not ashamed that he is an alcoholic, I know that it is a fact of life that some people have this addiction. I want to back up a bit to give myself a chance to reflect on the history. Some time ago, four years or so, Kenny was very ill, this illness was brought on by his alcoholism. The very thing that he loved and maybe hated more then anything nearly took his life. He recovered, with the admonishment that he never touch the stuff again or it is going to kill him.

Fast forward two years in August of 2006. My father died suddenly and Kenny and my second oldest brother and a cousin made the trip up here for the funeral and to lend support to my mother. During this visit, Kenny started drinking again. This time not to stop.

Another fast forward to this past week on Tuesday. This time, his liver is complete done for. No option for repair and maintenance this time. He needs a new liver. Unfortutely to his family and friends, alcoholics are not typically eligible for transplants until they can prove sobriety. In his case he must remain sober for 5 months before he will even be placed on the list. It is doubtful my brother will live long enough to reach that level of sobriety.

He is really going through detox right now and is so very hurtful and angry to his wife, it tears me up. I have been absent for blogging over the past few days because I have been dealing with my own feelings about this and wondering just how I could make this any better. I still haven't come to the conclusion and I am hoping that writing this down will make it easier for me to deal with 1200 miles away.

I am going to try and go to Texas next week and visit and see if I can be of any help. I really truly hope that I can find peace with it and move on. All things happen for a reason.

Please pray for my brother and his family.