The Uneventful Days that Affect Us Forever

“Do human beings ever realize life while they live it—every, every minute?”
-Emily, from Our Town by Thornton Wilder

This past weekend I went back to the city where my brother and I had both lived for a while. In fact, I stayed in the small hotel where I saw him for the last time. That visit was a year or so ago, and when we said goodbye that day he was returning to his home in Washington, D.C. and I to Portland.

Ken had an appreciation for good whiskey, but on our last evening together I di...