My brother, my friend (spoken at Sky's Memorial Service - September 22, 2007)

Sky was my baby brother, and my friend.

I will always remember him as a kind and gentle person, with a deep and unrelenting complexity. He left me with a fuller appreciation of the little things in life, and in our world.

He had a wry humor, ready to unleash it when I least expected it. He usually directed it at me when i needed it most; to calm a runaway ego, to teach a searing lesson, or just to poke at an exposed flank. I will really miss the banter back and forth, and the challenge of who will be left with the last, satisfying jab.

There are a few visions of him that are seared in my brain forever, and that I think reflect who he was to me:

- The little strawberry-blonde baby, leaping over and over again with unbridled glee in his jumper, in the middle of the living room, as I ticked his feet each time he got airborne.

- The elementary school kid, who came home one day a bit traumatized because he had tearfully and physically defended a single cockroach on the playground from the feet of the kids who wanted to crush it.

- The long-haired teenager, replete with Led Zeppelin t-shirt and not-so-mysteriously red eyeballs.

- The never-give-up young man, underneath my house with me all Christmas week, pulling electrical cable through slimy conduit to bring more power to the far side of my house. Together laughing, as we worked in filth, dust, and cold for days, listening to the Christmas rumblings happening above our heads.

- The glimpse of the simply happy man, seeing the way he looked adoringly at his girlfriend Crystal during one Thanksgiving.

...I could go on and on with these flashes of memories.

He was my friend, he was my brother, he was my kid's uncle...and in each of these roles, he was the best I could ever hope for. I will miss him with a heavy heart for the rest of my life, always wondering what he would be like as he got older and even more wise...and confused how my little laughing jumping baby brother is not just a phone call or email away.

Sky leaves all of us with a few gifts; to love the earth, to never betray your beliefs, and to be brave. So we will be brave and celebrate him, celebrate the lessons he taught us, celebrate our memories of him. This way, he'll live on in our hearts, and pop up in our daily lives in unexpected and wonderful ways. He asked that we remember him when we see something beautiful...in a flower, a sunset, a full moon. For me, this is where he will live on, in a quiet melding of loving memories and beautiful imagery.

I will love and miss you forever, bro.

Nick