The soul has greater need of the ideal than the real for it is by the real that we exist, it is by the ideal that we live

Monday, December 31, 2012

Charles D Hyland was my big brother

My brother died unexpectedly last Wednesday and this Wednesday is his memorial service.  I will be attending and this is what I will say:

When I was putting together the music for this evening I had that worry we all have about losing files and so it's saved on my phone my ipod all my computers, it's even in my email. And to test it when it was done I put the Ipod in the car and went for a drive. One of the first songs to come up was California dreamin. I distinctly remember,  I was probably about ten when Chuck had his 1947 Pontiac Silver Streak, and we'd go riding around listening to albums on his portable record player that he'd perch on the front seat on a pillow. And one of those days we listened to that album. I can still see that record player sitting there on that pillow. There'll be many more moments I remember like that for the rest of my life I hope, and God knows there are many stories to tell.


As most of you know I am not biologically a Hyland. I have all the neuroses and tics one gets from just being in the room with their family no matter the origin and I added a few of my own just in case.
But whatever the circumstance that brought me to those people it came with a stroke of great good fortune. My brother.

As we all have there have times in my life when I believed in myself not at all. I had no confidence in my abilities, my talents, my intelligence, my worth in any way. But there was always one person to whom I could go who just because he was who he was I could get my self-confidence restored. Cause my big brother believed in me even when I didn't. Chuck wasn't the most demonstrative person in the world, but if I listened...I knew.


So y'all can have your biological Brothers older or younger. But I have a bit of bad news for you. The best one is spoken for.