my rainwater brother

MY RAINWATER BROTHER

this weekend my rainwater brother died unexpectedly
we shared the special interest of gardening and rainwater collection and financial stuff
we taught each other gardening i taught him about rainwater collection and he taught me about financial stuff

this tank above we selected and picked out for a special spot at the country n
he and i went to a small plant near where we lived to find the right one
this one was like a funnel on top which we would be able to help catch the water off the roof of our upstairs deck
he liked this rainwater tank
he eventually bought two at this plant that matched the brick on the front of his house so it wasnt noticeable from the street to keep the hoa happy
he watered his front shrubs with them
his backyard was an accumulation of several sized tanks that watered all his garden and his shrubs
he spent a lot of time asking me questions about my rainwater system which was a complete water system
he put in as much as he could in his yard since he was limited by hoa regulations

he had a rich nutritious soil and garden
the first thing we would do when i came to visit him was to spend time looking at his garden and rainwater system
he asked me lots of questions about gardening and rainwater collection


there were three times in my life that stand out where he helped me

after high school i dropped out of college and was working at a bag plant and later a road crew
he and my historian brother convinced me to leave that area and move in with my historian brother who was stationed in southern california  in the air force

when he came home between his junior and senior year at the air force academy i went back with him
he dropped me off at the bus station in albuquerque
i went on to california and he drove back to the academy

after graduation his first assignment for a year was flight school in california a few hours away

through his and my historian brothers encouragement i went back to college

then
a few years later i was married with one son and had just moved to little rock to attend medical school there
the week before school started my loans fell through and i had no money to pay for school
zero

he had told me to let him know if i needed funds for school
so
i reached out to him
by monday morning i had enough money sent to me to get us through the first semester
he refused to take any payments back for the loan
later after i was in practice i did pay him back but had to do so without him knowing i did it

thats how he was
he did a lot of things for folks in his life but most people didnt know about it
he never talked about it

he had a bachelors degree from the academey and also had two masters degrees one an mba
he also did two years in law school while in the military but had to discontinue it because of military assignments
he retired from the air force after twenty years mostly as a pilot
he worked around 10 years as a civilian teaching military pilots how to fly the big planes he flew

he was stationed some in saudia arabia flying the big awac planes who do the traffic control
he would do 3 months there then go home for a few months
this was during the iran and iraqui wars

he also was the wing commander of the awacs which are the big 747 planes with the huge satellite dish on top
his planes provided the air traffic control for the military when the us invaded panama

he rarely talked about his military experiences though

later he also became a certified financial planner a cfp
he used my historian brother and me as his first customers

i didnt really understand stocks and bonds and all that financial stuff
so
he began a many years of educating me on my finances
so
that the last several years i have been able to do most of it on my own
occasionally i would reach out to him when i needed help

then
recently he and i sat down and he showed me the file he had set up for his wife whenever he died
so she would know where everything was at like the will the bank accounts the retirement stuff and all the other information one needs when the spouse dies

we did a final review this last summer of how he had his all set up
i came back to california and started doing the same for my wife she and i
after being sick with probable covid we became more aggressive doing all the paper work
so all the information is there when its needed

he will be missed
he saved me first when i was 20 and influenced me to make a move that changed my life
he saved me to help me get started that first year of medical school
he saved me with my financial education
he and i shared many an hour talking gardening and rainwater collection

he helped a lot of people we didnt ever know about
the family is starting to hear some of the stories now that he is gone

he was a special person
he will be missed

the organicgreen doctor