I laced up an old pair of my brother’s work shoes, one size too big for me, and found myself rooting through the shed that rested in a stand of ill-mannered pine trees. The shed held many items one might find useful around a freshwater lake such as tools, boat parts, rope, engine oil, and a dusty old bicycle. The main problem was that it had not been organized in years. Many items recalled visions of happy times from distant summers. Strange yet pleasing, it was, to find items labeled in my father’s handwriting.

The next day my wife and I cleaned like the Joint Commission on Cottages was due to arrive. The only thing missing was a nervous administrator. We organized and made piles for donation.

The day after that was the best of all. We traveled across Steuben County to the county seat to buy trees. Two years prior, a beautiful old ash succumbed to the emerald ash borer and left the yard on the lake side without a lick of shade. We found two honey locusts for the front and a maple and two crabapple trees for the side by the road.

The following day, we dug holes in dry, rocky, and unforgiving soil. Had it been my place, I would have been complaining. We mixed manure and peat moss, watered them in, and then put in stakes. The next day, because of the drought plaguing northern Indiana, I ran irrigation to each tree and installed a timer. We relaxed for the last part of the week and left full of the satisfaction of a job well done.

I’m not sure how much longer I’ll be grieving. The time is not so important. I guess the alternative is to have had a poor relationship with my brother and to know little grief. I’m content to know grief and be patient in its passing. I feel better about a lot of things now.

Each year when I return to the cottage, I will marvel at how the trees have grown and will see my brother in them. In a few years, the branches of the two honey locusts will reach to the sun and touch each other, as I will one day with my brother.

Dr. Baehren lives in Ottawa Hills, Ohio. He practices emergency medicine and is an assistant professor at the University of Toledo (Ohio) Medical Center.