Today is the fifth anniversary of my brother’s death. 

The weather here in the Washington, DC, area feels appropriate. This morning was full of clouds and rain, with the occasional rumble of thunder keeping us inside.

But now blue skies peek through the trees, and warm air and birdsong float through the open window. There are the rainy stay-inside days, and then there are the brilliant perfect sunny days you feel open to the world again, and both exist because of the other.

I wanted to share a few things I’ve written about my brother:

On grief: I miss you, I love you, I’m so sorry

Over the past few months, I’ve often struggled with knowing what to do, how to help. How could I move from helplessness to helpfulness But now I know. Those little words do so much work. Those words are all we have at times — and sometimes they’re what we need the most.

The best food for grief

How to travel home for a viewing during a pandemic

Digital road signs read “Safer at home, hon. Wear a mask, save lives.” It was bizarre to read them even as I got further from my own home, toward the place I grew up. Which one was home? And was anywhere safe?

Did I break your heart?

The way forward

How a nation recovers from unimaginable pain and loss, with hundreds of thousands dead within only a few months, amid deep partisan divides and widespread social and racial inequality — it’s becoming an ever-more pertinent question. And more than just how a country moves on — how do people keep going when they have lost so much?

🌡️🌡️🌡️

This week, officials announced that overdoses in the US have dropped by 27 percent, the biggest one-year decrease ever.

Here’s what I’ve written, not about but in honor of my brother.

First, the awful rise in deaths:

‘It’s devastating’: How fentanyl is unfolding as one of America’s greatest tragedies

Price for drug that reverses opioid overdoses soars amid record deaths

‘It’s a different beast’: US fentanyl deaths will rise, warns Narcan developer

‘Completely devastating’: US passes 1m overdose deaths since records began

And now, stunningly, hopefully, the reversal:

‘Unprecedented’ decline in US drug overdose deaths gives experts hope

I really hope we able to keep up this progress. While it’s incredible to see the rates going back down, 80,000 people dying every year is still far, far too many.

Top image: “There is always hope” Banksy print I hung in my office.