This evening, I took my laptop over to my brother’s house. We turned on the Olympics and I started to draw a strip with my Wacom tablet while Brian watched. Our conversation went like this:

Brian: Why do you sometimes draw your bubbles like that?
Scott: Like how?
Brian: Open at the tails.
Scott: I like it.
Brian: But, why are some open and some closed?
Scott: I dunno. Sometimes it looks better open.
Brian: How do you decide which to go with?
Scott: I don’t have a system. I just do whatever strikes me at the moment.

There was a short pause and Brian sat back in his chair. Then he looked at me and said “What gives you the right?” The comment was so out of left field, that I just dropped my head into my arms and snorted. Then we both started laughing uncontrollably.

It was a well needed positive ending to a dreary day. Today is the one year anniversary of a horrible moment. My thoughts today have been fixated on a very sad time. It’s not a day I had marked in my calendar or made note of. It snuck up on me and caught me unawares. I’m glad my brother and I have spent so much time together this year, and today made me suddenly realize that I probably came home from that wake a year ago and latched on to him a bit tighter than before.

We raise our glasses to you, Mike. We miss you!