Happy Birthday in Heaven Mark!

Every year on April 4th, I make a post on social media to wish my brother a happy birthday in heaven. This year, he would have turned 52 years old.

Mark was killed when his truck was struck by a train while leaving a customer's home on July 17,1997. He was 24 years old.

I often think about what kind of man he would be, had the railroad crossing been cleaned up and easier to see. If the railroad company had installed the crossing lights earlier, when the residents in the area had petitioned for it.

Mark grew up in a house with three women - two sisters and his mother. I would joke with him and say he was going to make the best husband because he had an inside look into living with women, that most men do not experience. I recall that he did not appreciate this valuable insight. He very likely thought that we were more annoying than not when he was younger.

He was the cutest kid when he was little. He had these beautiful brown eyes and the most adorable little pug nose. He was a chatterbox. Oh boy, could that little guy talk and talk. The only time he was quiet was when he was sitting in the barber's chair for a haircut. My mom would laugh every time.

After having girls, my mom felt some challenges with raising her youngest child. "Boys are so different to raise," she would muse, usually when he came home after doing a "boy thing". He was curious. He was energetic. He was perfectly imperfect.

In a family of four, with a single mother raising three children, Mark and I were often paired up together. We were buddies and enemies. Every sibling in the universe understands what that means. We played practical jokes on each other. We blackmailed each other. We stood up for each other. We teased each other incessantly. We loved each other. We were each other's first friend.

In my version of what his life could have been, I imagine that he is very successful with his satellite installation business. He eventually added other installation technicians to his staff and opened up two or three other offices. I imagine that he married a nice girl he knew since high school, but waited to date until in he was in his late twenties, when he was more mature. I picture him having three children, two boys and a girl. I can see him shaking his head at the boys when they acted exactly like he did at their age. I imagine him being the best uncle to my sister's kids and mine.

God had different plans for him and whatever I could have imagined for him did not happen. He was called home much earlier than we expected.

I post every year on his birthday because he should be remembered with love and laughter. He had a good heart and a sweet disposition. He marched to the beat of his own drum and he was okay with it. At 24, he owned his own home and had started his own business. He would always find the shy kid in the back of the room because he didn't want them to be lonely.

I think he would be someone who I admired and respected. After all, he was raised by three women.

Happy birthday in heaven, kiddo. You are still loved and missed every single day.