It’s been a long time since I’ve seen my brother. He lives in Ohio, and while that is not too far from me (4+ hours), we just haven’t been able to get together. He came up this weekend because this week would have been our mom’s birthday (see the April 4 blog).
We have never actually had the chance to go to the cemetery alone together in the 12 years since she passed. We got to do that while he was here. Standing at the grave, we shared laughter and tears. We spoke of mom and remembered stories. It was a simple, yet powerful visit. Neither one of us needed time alone. We were there together.
My brother read the blog I wrote about my mom’s birthday and came to Michigan with another purpose/proposal. He is the writer in the family. He has self-published books and he is very good at conveying thoughts. He has had a variety of ideas that have run through his head as far as things that would honor mom’s memory. He came to me and presented the one that he feels is the perfect project. He and I are going to work on it together. I am actually very excited about it. We sat at the kitchen table and mapped out generic thoughts and ideas. It will be a very good project not because we are writing it and putting it together, but because it is about her. It is two very unique and very different viewpoints on the same topic. I refuse to go into it more because we aren’t ready to really give more details yet. Rest assured, though, as we move forward, we will be sharing our thoughts as it progresses and the finished product as well.
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On a sad note, I attended the funeral for my second cousin who passed away last month in Florida after a short battle with cancer. Truly a great story: she married her high school sweetheart, had children and grandchildren, and moved to Florida to enjoy retirement together. Sadly, cancer reared its ugly head and quickly took her from this world. She was only 58. My grandfather was 58 when he died, as was my mom. 58 is way too young in my opinion. Her family, he sister, her mother, her cousins, and her friends all grieved today. Time is so precious.
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Ending on a high note – I was contacted by a media friend of mine who asked if I would be interested in providing the voice for a commercial. Naturally, I said yes. What makes this even more exciting, is that I am going to be providing the voice for an animated character in a series of ads. If the campaign is approved, the ads will be running on TV, radio, and the web. I couldn’t be more excited. I love doing voice over work, but this is probably the coolest thing I have ever done. My voice has been in award winning ads before, but there is something about being the voice of a character that is so exciting. I will be sure to keep you posted.
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Various Ramblings of a Nostalgic Italian 