{"product_id":"9781457515514","title":"I Always Meant to Tell You...: Letters to a Younger Brother (Deceased)","description":"The loss of a loved one is always deeply painful. When that loved one is younger — a child or a younger sibling — the pain is intensified by a sense of outrage and injustice. Those younger than we will surely outlive us! Additionally, when the loss is occasioned by tragedy in a distant place, making impossible any final interaction with the beloved — a touch, a parting word, a simple look into eyes — it can be nearly impossible to accept the reality or bear the grief.\u003cp\u003eIn this book, Perry Robert Wilkes writes through his grieving process in the face of losing not just one, but three, remarkable and much loved family members: his younger and only brother Steve, Steve’s wife Janette, and their younger son Eliot. All perished in the crash of a small plane in the Alaskan wilderness, while the older son, Alec, waited in his Uncle Perry and Aunt Carolyn’s home for his family’s return.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eMuch of the writing of this book was done in Bahía de Kino, a small, remote Mexican seaside community where the family had vacationed together and to which Perry and Carolyn returned yearly for retreat and renewal. It was the way Perry chose to heal from his own pain; honor the lives of Steve, Janette, and Eliot; and give a gift of love to their friends and family, and especially his nephew Alec. As an ongoing conversation with Steve, it is also a reminder to anyone struggling with the loss of someone very dear that the conversation need never end, because true love has a story to tell and a voice that can never be stilled.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eWith less than two years difference in their ages, the author and his younger brother shared friends, musical interests, and a converted garage as a bedroom. At the end of their block, broad mesa lands stretched to the northern mountains and Santa Fe, the fabled \"end of the Santa Fe Trail.\" It was a typical 'boys' life' filled with lizards, snakes, horned toads, rock collections, tumbleweeds and prairie dogs.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eOver the next several decades, Steve gravitated to a career in education but maintained his passion for music, becoming a founding member of Albuquerque's well-known Watermelon Mountain Jug Band. Most weekends they were booked to play at Kelly's Liquors, The Ponderosa, The Golden Inn, or the historic Kimo Theater, among others. Besides the music, fans came to see Steve play the comb, and various other odd instruments, while riding his unicycle on stage.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003ePerry maintained his interest in construction and design, with time to enjoy his younger brother's music and trademark oddball humor. One of their greatest collaborations was the design of a solar adobe home for Steve and his wife, Janette Carter, inspired by the grand old historic west wing of the University of New Mexico's Zimmerman Library. It would become home for Steve and Janette and their two young sons, Alec and Eliot, as well as an important gathering place for the entire family in years to come.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eSteve went on to become a nationally known education and training consultant. Janette was a poet, a proud mother, and a widely respected physician known for, among other things, the innovative Native American diabetes research program she founded at the University of New Mexico. Eliot, a wise young fellow with a burgeoning sense of humor, was much loved by his teachers, classmates, and surviving older brother Alec. This talented and creative family held a special place in the heart of the community.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eThese were memorable days, cut short by a tragic accident. The author has captured those moments of emotion and pain, and the resurgence of joy in this book dedicated to his brother's memory.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"Dog Ear Publishing","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":47043755606256,"sku":"9781457515514","price":14.95,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0737\/7593\/9824\/files\/9781457515514_p0.jpg?v=1763861449","url":"https:\/\/shop-qa.barnesandnoble.com\/products\/9781457515514","provider":"Barnes \u0026 Noble (DEV)","version":"1.0","type":"link"}