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My little sister Ri and my little brother Kim. Can you tell from this picture that they are the sweet 2 in our family of 4?
As the oldest, I was well-meaning but kind of bossy. My brother Mark and I were also the naughty ones. |
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Mark grew up to be brave and funny and kind. He was always ready to help, to play, to enjoy, to emote. |
When our Great-Aunt Mae was in a nursing home, Mark was the one who cared enough to woo all the kitchen staff into sending her up the hot dogs she loved instead of the fish that she hated. As a result, Aunt Mae was happy, he was happy, and the people in the kitchen were very, very happy.
At our mom’s 80th birthday-party-cum-musical-comedy, I thought nothing of writing him into the hardest roles–including Elvis. (That photo shows him belting out an Elvis number.) I knew he would knock them out of the ball park. He did.
After a year of telling us he had “a cold”, he went to the hospital and died of melanoma, all through his chest, in two days. How we miss him.