Back at the first of the year, Rob predicted that this would be a year of big changes.

Well, sure enough, 2010 has been eventful!  If you’ve been following our blog, you know our family has been through some doozies this year.  First was a new car, a new house, then a new job and even our blog platform changed.  Those were all good, although stressful, changes.

But I suppose you can’t expect all changes to be good ones though…  My brother Bob (a.k.a. James, Jim, Rio) passed away suddenly, unexpectedly in June.  Here’s a picture that was taken just days before he passed away:

Bob - June 2010

Bob - 1955-2010

Bob lived in Seattle and had taken our Mom to live up there with him back in January ’09. At that time, she was in the early stages of Alzheimer’s and we felt she was nearing the point where she could no longer live alone. After my brother’s death, I had to quickly get to Seattle and relocate my mother home. Unfortunately, her Alzheimer’s has progressed rapidly and she no longer recognizes me or knows where she is.

It’s been a tough couple of months getting things finalized with my brother and getting Mom settled into a nursing home here. It’s tough seeing her this way but the one good thing about the Alzheimer’s is that it has spared her knowing about, and going through the pain of, losing another son.

Hopefully, whatever changes the second half of this year brings will all be positive ones!