My twin brother, Ian, was an exceptional man. He showed me so much. He would get up every morning early and blast KISS or Metallica as loud as he could. Our mom would tell him to turn it down. That I was still trying to sleep. He wouldn’t listen. One time he sat me down and explained why. Listen to the words and their meaning. Not the music or the instruments. You should listen and understand the words. From then on I listened to the words. Not anything else. I soon realized that no matter what kind of music it was, it all had a deep message. So I grew up loving all sorts of music: country, pop, rock, easy listening, and hard rock. It is this love that I passed on to my child.
My brother showed me the real beauty in the world with the pictures he drew. I saw and understood how he saw the world with every stroke of his pencil. He saw it so different than anyone else, but it was so beautiful. I wished I could see the world the way he did.
My brother had the biggest heart that I have ever known. From the minute you met him, you immediately fell in love with his light nature and open heart. He was my brother, my protector, and my friend. I do not know if I will ever met anyone that I could love as much as him. He was my hero and I will miss him every minute of every day. He is the type of person you could never forget, and if you tried you would just discover an open space in your heart where he once was. That openness never can be filled by anyone else. For this reason, we will all miss him, and remember him. Not as the man he has been for the last 10 years, the man who had lost that spark in his life, but as the boy we saw grow up, and the man who discovered the world and what it holds.
I will miss you, my twin brother, but I will see you again. Not right now, but in the far future. As I still have a life to live. Until then Ian, be well and watch over us, as we journey through this world, and remember you. You will live on in the stories we tell of you, of your spark, and your open heart.