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larryganz
·I took a break from the forums for a few weeks to deal with a family tragedy - my younger brother Izzy died unexpectedly from a brain tumor last month.
He was having headaches for a few months, but didn’t want to go to the VA Hospital clinic in Arizona while the state was a CoVid-19 hotspot. He finally went to the ER when it was bad enough to make him cry and writhe on the floor. They found a metastatic brain tumor, possibly spread there from a recurrence of testicular cancer (initially thought cured 25 yr ago). He was dead within a week. Due to the pandemic and my chronic lung disease, I never made it down there to see him.
This is the brother to whom I was always gifting watches, such as a low production number blue Commander 300 (Watchuseek crowdsourced watch) to match my black version, or a green Divemaster 500 to match my red version, and the Scurfa Diver One LE PVD black that I bought here through an Omega Forums “bake sale” to help an injured forum member. My brother died in his sleep with the Scurfa on his wrist.
I’d given him about 15 watches in the past 10 years; and my son even gave him the Ti Citizen perpetual calendar that we gave our son for becoming an Eagle Scout 7 years ago - gifted to my brother after my son got a new X-33 Skywalker for his high school graduation 4 years ago.
It seems like every day I go to pick up the phone to talk to my brother about life, work, family, watches, cars, guns, knives, and cooking, only to remember that he is gone.
I’ll always regret not giving him that extra Planet Ocean or Seamaster Pro that I didn’t wear for a couple of years. He always struggled for money and I was worried he’d sell it to pay bills, and so I’d send him a cheaper watch + cash to help him out. The special watch would just have to wait until his finances were more stable, so I thought.
But I always thought I’d have a chance to see the joy on his face when he’d finally get “that special watch”. The next one was going to be either my Hamilton GMT, or the Oris “Movember LE” Diver that I won here in a raffle. Still, those were not super-special. My son had instructions to give my brother one of my Rolex should I die first - something we expected due to my chronic lung disease and his relatively better health.
Among his personal effects was every single watch that I ever gave him - he kept them all, including a 112 yr old Hamilton pocket watch, a few Citizen, Orient, Seiko, and Victorinox watches, along with the Commander 300 and Scurfa Diver One, and of course the Citizen my son got as an Eagle Scout reward. I shared half of the watch collection with his best friends, and kept the sentimental ones that he loved so much. I want to make sure my son keeps them in the family.
I also have a Ti Victorinox chronograph that he gave me years ago as a Christmas present, that he himself had worn for years - he wanted me to have it. It’s the only thing that he could afford to give me over all the years, and I feel bad that I rarely wore it. I wore it for the past month of mourning, and now I’m back to my usual Ti Planet Ocean 9300 as my usual go to watch.
But this watch is the real keepsake - not all the watches that I gave him over the years, but rather the one that he thought I would enjoy as a gift from him to me. The one that he wore for years and loved for himself, but gave to me after my son replaced it with the Citizen that he’d earned as an Eagle Scout.
Izzy, you will be missed but you left your mark on everyone you met, and I’ve had strangers contact me to let me know how special you were. I’ll miss you, but it’s nice to have the memories along with the mementos of who you were.
Watches seem to be a special family heirloom for many to pass down, and I plan to honor that tradition. When I wear his watches, or my son wears mine, we can think about what things we did while wearing them and the marks left on them, sometimes together, and smile.
He was having headaches for a few months, but didn’t want to go to the VA Hospital clinic in Arizona while the state was a CoVid-19 hotspot. He finally went to the ER when it was bad enough to make him cry and writhe on the floor. They found a metastatic brain tumor, possibly spread there from a recurrence of testicular cancer (initially thought cured 25 yr ago). He was dead within a week. Due to the pandemic and my chronic lung disease, I never made it down there to see him.
This is the brother to whom I was always gifting watches, such as a low production number blue Commander 300 (Watchuseek crowdsourced watch) to match my black version, or a green Divemaster 500 to match my red version, and the Scurfa Diver One LE PVD black that I bought here through an Omega Forums “bake sale” to help an injured forum member. My brother died in his sleep with the Scurfa on his wrist.
I’d given him about 15 watches in the past 10 years; and my son even gave him the Ti Citizen perpetual calendar that we gave our son for becoming an Eagle Scout 7 years ago - gifted to my brother after my son got a new X-33 Skywalker for his high school graduation 4 years ago.
It seems like every day I go to pick up the phone to talk to my brother about life, work, family, watches, cars, guns, knives, and cooking, only to remember that he is gone.
I’ll always regret not giving him that extra Planet Ocean or Seamaster Pro that I didn’t wear for a couple of years. He always struggled for money and I was worried he’d sell it to pay bills, and so I’d send him a cheaper watch + cash to help him out. The special watch would just have to wait until his finances were more stable, so I thought.
But I always thought I’d have a chance to see the joy on his face when he’d finally get “that special watch”. The next one was going to be either my Hamilton GMT, or the Oris “Movember LE” Diver that I won here in a raffle. Still, those were not super-special. My son had instructions to give my brother one of my Rolex should I die first - something we expected due to my chronic lung disease and his relatively better health.
Among his personal effects was every single watch that I ever gave him - he kept them all, including a 112 yr old Hamilton pocket watch, a few Citizen, Orient, Seiko, and Victorinox watches, along with the Commander 300 and Scurfa Diver One, and of course the Citizen my son got as an Eagle Scout reward. I shared half of the watch collection with his best friends, and kept the sentimental ones that he loved so much. I want to make sure my son keeps them in the family.
I also have a Ti Victorinox chronograph that he gave me years ago as a Christmas present, that he himself had worn for years - he wanted me to have it. It’s the only thing that he could afford to give me over all the years, and I feel bad that I rarely wore it. I wore it for the past month of mourning, and now I’m back to my usual Ti Planet Ocean 9300 as my usual go to watch.
But this watch is the real keepsake - not all the watches that I gave him over the years, but rather the one that he thought I would enjoy as a gift from him to me. The one that he wore for years and loved for himself, but gave to me after my son replaced it with the Citizen that he’d earned as an Eagle Scout.
Izzy, you will be missed but you left your mark on everyone you met, and I’ve had strangers contact me to let me know how special you were. I’ll miss you, but it’s nice to have the memories along with the mementos of who you were.
Watches seem to be a special family heirloom for many to pass down, and I plan to honor that tradition. When I wear his watches, or my son wears mine, we can think about what things we did while wearing them and the marks left on them, sometimes together, and smile.
