Today’s date, this year, it hitting a little harder.

The roundness of a face.

November 8, 2008 my little brother Adam fell and hit his head multiple times. This unfortunately began a long road of recovery and major life transitions, all while living with immense pain daily.

Our family was gifted this mask, in the beautiful shadow box with some crystals and his explanation (on the back). This is a partial photo of the mask, made by my brother Adam at one of the Brain Injury Association meetings.

Adam helped bring this association to our small town, knowing first hand what life is like living with a brain injury and the help people need, yet felt out of reach. Connection, which is why the meetings were key, for people to gather with others and their loved ones to feel safe in a space where they could be heard and understood.

As hard as it is to share a part of his mask, one final fatal fall took his life. In 9 days it will be a full year without him. I honestly cannot even believe this is our reality, that my younger brother, we will never see again. He can no longer tell his story, but I can, his family can. One’s who knew his journey, shared in his ups and downs.

We never know what life is going to hold for us tomorrow, or even 5 minutes from now. I will never forget the day I got the call that he fell. Or how proud he was telling us about the brain injury group, an accomplishment that brought him true satisfaction for not just himself, but the other people who would benefit from this group and the resources that would come forward.

On the right of his mask, Pain + Pleasure = Life … a Sadness that he just couldn’t pull from, knowing he was living in pain every single day. Transformation and change, some beyond the individuals control, many aspects of their life changes and its not the same for every brain injury. A deeper compassion for those “invisible” illnesses that we cannot see and sometimes when described, its hard to believe, yet this is their daily truth. An injury that forever changes someone, especially their mental health and loving themself. Going from being incredibly eager and capable to struggling to provide for your family, a challenging reality and adjustment for a person.

Seeing first hand the group, that still continues to this day in Mount Forest on the last Tuesday of the month, makes me so humble and proud, it was hard to go back to the group after Adam’s death, however I then was quickly reminded, everyone there understands on a level that so many people do not. They themselves or a loved one have experienced a loss of some kind affecting their brain and mental health – goes hand in hand. Their level of compassion towards others, is like no other.

Round could also reference, the circle of life for our Adam. An injury that significantly impacted every area of his life, ultimately was his final moments. I know he knew he was loved, but I pray he felt it deep to his soul.

The November theme details can be found in this post – think Round!