The blog has been silent for a couple of days. The death of a close family member took the wind from beneath the sails. My brother-in-law was like a second father. He taught me the art of hitting and catching a baseball, how to shot a gun, how to plant a garden, how to raise pigs and chickens and the importance of work. Most of all he taught me the importance of being a responsible person.

With the death of someone like this, I am reminded of the introduction in Hemingway’s book “For Whom the Bell Tolls.” The introduction is from a poem by John Donne. “ No man is an Island, entire of itself; every man is a piece of the Continent, a part of the main; if a Clod be washed away by the Sea; Europe is the less. Any mans death diminishes me, because I am involved in Mankind; and therefore never send to know for whom the bell tolls; It tolls for thee.

The death of my brother-in-law certainly diminishes my life. He was a part of me. So as the bell tolls for his death it also tolls for me.