Matt Sliva

Thank you to everyone for the kind words. Actually, Im the boy in the picture. My brothers name was Josh. I really just wanted to write something that might encourage virgo_gal. My thoughts and prayers will be with you. Thank you all for responding so kindly.

I wish I caught this topic sooner, but I wanted to share with virgo-gal that I lost my brother too. About ten years ago. He was 26 when he died. Im assuming this is the first year your without your brother. It took me so long to realize that grieving is a process and its very healthy to get through it. That being said, you move on from your grief, but you never have to move on from your loved one. We have to separate these two things. My brother is with me everyday and im never letting him go. Grief and anger I let go a long time ago. The beautiful thing is that his memory is sweeter every time I think about him. Over time I think alot less about the way he died and much more about the way he lived. Especially the life we shared together. We can start to think that we will carry the tragedy of death with us forever but honestly if you let the grief work itself out the fragrance of good memory will move in and be sweeter and sweeter with time.