Happy Birthday Brother. We all Miss You. Just wish we all got together more often....

You were my brother, my mentor, advisor and my best friend. I will always love you, no matter how long its been since your life came to an end. I love you brother...and yes, we hold your hand in our prayers and dreams.

Bryan, Sarina, Mitchell
This is for you guys....

My Father, Who Art in Heaven
While it might seem that mothers are often more appreciated, I can not overlook the importance of my father.

Sometimes a little distant, sometimes more nurturing than one could expect, my dad built the image of a true man in my brother's and sister's eyes.

He never made a fortune, or a noise
In the world where men are seeking after fame.

Looking back over time I find myself wondering …..

Did I remember to thank you enough,
for all you have done for me?
For all the times you supported our needs, celebrating our successes, understanding our problems, and accepting our defeats without judgement...filling our darkness with your childhood smile.

You taught me by your example,
the value of hard work, good judgment, courage and integrity is what makes a man.

But it took me to be a parent to realizes you were absolutely right. My children who think I'm obviously to facts, feabisly wrong I'm told I now sit back, reflect quietly with a smile.

But I wonder if I ever thanked you enough for the sacrifices you made,
providing us the best within means, excepting the simpler, less quality of whats offered.

If I've forgotten to show my gratitude enough for all the things you did, I'm thanking you now....but I think you knew all along, how much you meant to me, I caught a glimpse of you the other night, a twinkle of light in the northern night skies followed by our mothers tears showering the night.

"Never is a man more of a man than when he sacrifices for a newborn's life"

                    ~ J. Simms 2021

Those we have lost do not repose beneath the earth soil, or the ashes within an urn
They are buried deep in our hearts
It has been thus ordained that they may always accompany us...Happy Birthday Brother.
~ J. Simms 08/03/2021

One year later seems like forever....
I've asked myself and talk to you as if you where still here, "How come you left so soon?
But the only answer that makes any sense is, "You're in the hands of something greater than us, unknown to us"
Perhaps a plan so devine we fail to comprehend. Though I know you walk among us, an angel of joy who lifts our spirits, a brother who will always be missed...forever loved.