“The Prince of Unconditional Love”

He taught everyone he met
His lessons were absorbed unconsciously
Diffused to his subjects by him, absorbed like osmosis from him.
He taught strangers and family alike.
There was something special about the The Prince.
Very special.
It was more of an effect than a sense.
He had inherent knowledge that would take others a generation to learn, if ever.
He had natural wisdom in the area of love.
Where most of the rest of us floundered.
His qualifications were from nature.
He held no certifications or advance degrees.
His skills were not acquired from classrooms.
You maybe couldn’t even call it a gift.
An inheritance maybe.
Inherent.
He created instant fans and converts.  A checker at a supermarket.
A clerk at a clothing store.  A new friend of family.
Invariably a quizzical look as they tried to calculate him when they first met.
Followed shortly by a smile of relief and love when they did.
And then he’d move on his merry way.
And Advice, Advice was harmless, sincere, well-intentioned, and frequent.
“take care of yourself” “be nice to your wife” “ treat everyone with respect.”
He didn’t care your looks, your weight, or your pocketbook.
And if you had a pulse, you were pretty much welcome to join his club.
He had no limits. At least none that he was aware of. What you saw is what you got.
No filters, no agenda, nothing held in reserve.
He was a people person. And every day was a new adventure.
Each person he saw or met was like a longtime family reunion.
Everything was fresh. New. No day after day dreariness. Or obligatory Repetition.
And little trepidation.
“what are we going to do for lunch?”
“what am I going to wear today?”
No. He’d eat what there was and it was good. He’d wear what he had and looked good in it.  And feel good in it.
He had work to do.
He had a higher purpose.
He worked his magic every day.
No one suspected he was creating his own personal opus.
It was effortless to him.
It turned out the teachers were the students and the student was the teacher.
As is wont, the bittersweet aspect was that, unfortunately, the lessons weren’t realized until school was out.
But all that were touched realized the Prince’s lessons stuck.
Too late they wished for more.

50 Team Brian Members walked in your memory at the 2014 Donate Life Run/Walk event this year. I am late in posting. After the last post with the loss of your heart recipient I had stepped away from writing and got a very severe case of writer block. But now I am back.  I am ready to continue. I have so much to say and catch up on that it will take the form of several Blogs before I feel equal to saying we are okay. The picture below is your family and friends (not everyone is pictured)... we all love you so much and I am so grateful that each year they come out and join us.

Not only did you have 50 Team Members, but in your honor and in your memory we raised over $4,000 in fundraising! How wonderful! How special you are. You are doing such great things. You brightened our world while we had you and you continue to make the world a better place after you have left us.  I miss you so much, and when I look at your smiling face on the placards and on our buttons and t-shirts I think that I am the luckiest person in the world that  GOD choose me to be your mom. Your whole family is greatly blessed because you came into our lives. Do you see us all hugging and smiling and leaning into each with joy of celebrating you? Celebrating you! It was your day and your memory and each year we will do it again and again. Never to be forgotten. Always to be so proud of you. Grateful to call you ours...  I will make another post soon my son, a special one from your Uncle Joe. Until we meet again, all my love Mother.