My brother-in-law passed away tonight. I wept when I saw him in the hospital, gasping desperately for air through his oxygen mask. I do not know him very well, just superficially as one would know a brother-in-law, with glimpses of what he really is. Pardon me, I'll still talk about him in the present tense once in a while, I think. I should just backspace and correct it, but I don't think so, past tenses make Hendrick sound so gone, so forgotten.
Seeing him so thin, so pale, so motionless, I weep again. More for my sister, as I see her clutch his hand. My heart breaks, for the first time, not for myself. My sister, so young and pretty, is now alone in the world.