Saying goodbye..

I know this will ramble some but I'm doing this for me as it comes to me..

John August Anderson..known as Sandy to his close family passed away on January 29th 2009 at the age of 60. In November he was diagnosed with brain cancer and even though he had surgery to remove the tumor he never rebounded. He had 2 sons David and Jason and daughter in law Amanda. He had 2 grandsons Brian and Tylar. He was born in Texas City in December of 1949. Even though he was 11 years older than me, he was closest to me in age of all my brothers. He was also the one I felt closest to in all things.

He was the bottom step of 5 stair step boys... the youngest of 5 for 11 years




he was finally an older brother when I was born in January of 1960. Richard..the oldest shared a bed with him when Sandy was little... then when Sandy was older he had to share a bed with me. It's kinda like Richard was to Sandy as Sandy was to me... Richard was even Sandy's best man in his wedding and Sandy was my best man in my wedding.

We used to go fishing together.. we used to go to Oilers games together. We both loved the Oilers...the Luv ya Blue Oilers with Earl Campbell and Carl Mauck and Bum Phillips.

He was the shortest boy in the family and was the only one to get a basketball scholarship. He loved basketball...

He was the brother that came to my house just to visit.. not for a family get together or other event.. he came just to visit.. he did that with all the family. Sandy was the brother that intersected his life in everyone elses life.. he knew all the grand kids when most of us brothers had gotten so involved in our own lives that we had not stayed in touch well enough.

He worked retail from the time I was 7 until he got sick.

He liked guns.. mostly pistols. I never was a big gun freak..not like the rest of my brothers anyway... I've got my shotgun..rifle..and couple of pistols but my brothers love guns.

We went shooting together a few times...

When I was in college I used to take mid day road trips to just go visit with him for a few hours. Because we were close when I was young I always felt close to Sandy as an adult.

Sandy was the kind of person that made you feel pretty good.. he was an encourager. He was full of joy.. he loved to laugh. He was a blessing to everyone who knew him. He helped me with some personal course corrections in my life regarding my attitude and my outlook on life. I will thank him forever for that much less the subtle impact he has had on me that I cannot detect because it's just a part of who I am...

This doesn't even come close to expressing all that I'm feeling and thinking but I can't get it all together or even express it. He chose not to have a funeral/memorial... so this is my little memorial for my own closure...

Sandy I will miss you. I love you!