The story of Gizmo come in three parts;

The Beginning: In the 90s beanie babies were a huge thing, my baby brother had a favorite, a lemur named Gizmo. For those of you that have sibling you’ll understand this next part better than most; I would ask to give it hugs/kisses and then I would give him a kiss and promptly throw gizmo against the wall or into the ceiling fan where he would catch a ride straight into the wall. And I’d laugh as my brother got mad… to be fair he got me back later in life by teaching my dog to growl and like squeaky toys which he enjoyed throwing on my bed when I was trying to sleep or had a hangover.

The Middle: Fast forward to Alec enlisting into the Marines. Dropping him off was one of the hardest days of my life. When cleaning out his room (moving) I found Gizmo! My brother and I were very close, he was my shadow and being apart was a hard adjustment so I decided Gizmo was going to have to take his place. So I started taking Gizmo places with me and again had to send my brother pictures of Gizmo to torture him with. It turned into a great way to spread laughs while he was overseas. My brother and I would get so weird together and I’m thankful this part of our bond and humor can be shared and live on.

The Continuation My brother committed suicide July 15, 2022. My life has not been the same since. I’m not okay but I’m getting better day by day, I’m constantly searching out ways to heal, move forward and honor/remember my brother. I carried Gizmo to his funeral and people asked about him, sharing his story made people smile in sadness and I would like to spread those smiles and raise awareness as I believe that is how I will be able to move forward while still keeping him close to me.

In summation Gizmo was Alec’s childhood toy that evolved into a weird sibling bonding adventure and after Alec’s deaths he will continue his story. I plan to post pictures of his adventures and post the ones I sent to my brother when they come up on my Timehop memories. I will share my emotions and experiences in hopes it helps anyone. It will be interesting to see what this page involves into. Thank you for letting me share his story.