My great brother Rainer, my wingman's gone. My wife bought me an electric guitar for Christmas 2024, a Yamaha Pacifica in rubin red, with an amp. What a Christmas present! It came as a complete surprise to me - my wife understands how to surprise me with extremely meaningful presents - she once got me an electric Carrera Race Car track with two Formular 1 cars - I was nearly 50 years old, not a kid anymore, but it's been a dream to me for decades.
So, once I had this Yamaha guitar, I started to exercise and play that guitar on Christmas Eve 2024, practised basic chords, a few solos, a few power chords, whenever I had a free minute, a little later I bought a Marshall JVM410H with a 1960 Vintage, a beautiful Gibson Les Paul and a stunning Fender Strat, and I really wanted to surprise Rainer with it as soon as I'd be playing well enough. I wanted to play songs with him guiding me on his bass guitar and I had practised every single day since Christmas, but one day late February the message of his illness reached us. Shocking. My dream playing with him - ended with a full stop. We decided to visit him at the clinic immediately, and we never hesitated making numerous trips to Krefeld ever since, or questioned any moment next to his bed, we had hopes until the very end came on 20th April at exactly 5 p.m. - my wingman died in my arms. He slowed down and stopped breathing within 15 minutes, while I held his hand with my right, and my left hand was on his head giving him comfort. I cried. It still doesn't feel real.
One day we'll be in a band together, Rainer. I will keep on practising until then and I bet we'll play whatever you want.
Good-bye, Rainer.
