I named my blog “Authentic Voice” when I started seven and a half years ago. Since then I’ve learned that walking the walk of authenticity is way harder than the talk.

Something that I confront when working through this is having to admit when I am not up to the task. These last few days have been very hard and, without going too deep into the particulars, I’m sharing them because I need you to know.

At age 56, he had a massive heart attack in the middle of the night and only lived several minutes after it happened. He was at home with his loving wife of almost 26 years (their anniversary would have been this week…), so they were together when it happened. They were a great couple and their lives were a journey many envied.

Why do I bring this up?

Well, I’m taking a week off. No regular post next week, no newsletter from my business, severely curtailed updates and posts online (pre-scheduling tools are great, but, frankly, when weighing time spent online and time spent with my remaining family and mourning/celebrating my brother’s life, their importance dwindles in comparison…). I may write some more about my brother in the future. His was life full of radical turn-arounds, redemption, down-home humor and he carried a significant portion of our father’s view of life and humor in his soul.