For Tim

For the newcomers to this blog, my brother, Tim, died unexpectedly June 16.

This blog was my emotional release during that time. If you want, take a look back in the archives and learn more about my brother and the emotional time it was for me and the rest of my family.

One of the revelations of the entire process was learning about the side of Tim I didn't know. His work side. It was amazing to hear all the stories from his colleagues about his professionalism, his sense of humor and his overall performance.

I knew he worked in wire and cable, but I didn't know much more -- until today. My family and I went to his workplace for a ceremony this morning.

In the picture above, you'll see a gorgeous red maple they planted in his memory. There's also a stone there, too, with a nice tribute to him.

This manufacturing plant basically stopped for 10 minutes this morning while folks came out to pay a tribute to my brother. One of his colleagues said a few words, as did my mom and me. We had a moment of silence in his honor, too.

Very simple. Very meaningful.

Then, we got a tour of the plant. And, while I still don't know exactly what he did, I can say proudly that he ran this operation of more than 100 people and it was impressive to see. And the guy who showed us around was saying how Tim knew everything about all of these machines -- more than I could count doing things I've never seen before. That he knew everyone by name and that he was constantly having fun -- all while being productive.

We heard more stories about him from the people that worked for him. All funny. All touching. All to be remembered. And for that I am thankful.

Perhaps the best comment I've received yet came from another colleague. The plant makes all sort of wire, including fiber optic cable and other stuff that gets used for computer networks and such. So, as I sit here at my desk, it's possible that the wire connecting my computer to our network could have been made by my brother's plant.

With that in mind, his colleague asked me if I enjoyed my visit to the plant.

"I enjoyed it immensely, but I still don't understand it," I joked.

"Just think of your brother every time you turn on your computer," she said.

So simple. So hokey. But, you know what, incredibly comforting.