This is something I shared on Facebook on Wednesday after the passing of my brother Greg, after a little over a year’s battle with cancer. It is still fresh for us, so it feels relevant to share it here in place of our weekly update, as this was our year, our last six months and especially the last week…

Greg just wasn’t my big brother, he was also my best friend, and the best man at our wedding. To say there is something missing in the Teeter family this week, is an understatement of epic proportions.

There is a crater in our universe.

But, let me tell you a little bit about why he meant so much to me…

With Greg it was always easy—even when it was hard. He was the biggest champion for everyone around him, loved unconditionally and had the purest of hearts. We always found a way to laugh with Greg – always – even up to his last hours. He was always there to offer advice, perspective and most importantly to just listen. He was a great sounding board and wouldn’t shy away from challenging my thinking or allowing me to do the same with him.

I hope he knew just how many times I tried to lead through my moments in life trying to emulate what he would have done, or to find the path that would have the same impact he did.

In typical Greg fashion when I was the first boy, third in the line of four Teeter boys to bring a partner home and into the mix, Greg was there with open arms and became an immediate big brother for Danielle. When Danielle and I added a daughter to our family in Emelia, of course Greg was there with an open heart, doting over his niece. Emelia held the same intensely close relationship with Greg, that Danielle and I had too.

Growing up we were always known as “The Teeter Boys” as we were a herd of four and I was third in that line—Greg was second. In grade school I was often referred to as “You’re Teeter’s brother” which while that proudly could have meant any one of three options, I knew that likely meant Greg as he had a larger than life personality and spent most of his life with a guitar in hand, in bands and making people laugh.

There are so many stories from our life… SO many… that almost can’t end because of the laughter they incite—the kind that when they are told sound too out there to be true, but as anyone who who had the fortune to frequent that house on Dora Drive with a shoe on the roof, knows them to be true.

They are as much a part of who I am, just as Greg is, and will continue to be.

Greg’s greatest joy in life, aside from being a partner, was becoming and being a father to three wonderful children. Sherri gave Greg Vaughan and there was such a beaming sense of pride of who Vaughan is becoming who was also his best friend. Testza gave Greg Zoe and Abi and like Vaughan, he threw everything he could into their lives to make it better and funnier. In all of them you can see the impact of Greg they carry deeply in who they are. And you can see the humour in them too.

I hate that cancer took Greg from us all, and that there won’t be any new stories from Tuesday at 6:30pm going forward. But fuck cancer because the impact he had on not just me, is far, far greater than the impact that disease will ever try to muster in that light beating out dark kind of way.

I know that anyone reading these words will know just what I mean if they knew Greg.

Cancer is such a terrifying outcome and with a diagnosis that didn’t look great from the beginning, Greg approached it in his Greg way which is to find the boundary and trying bowl his way through that wall. He swung for the fences and tried to defy the odds even right up to the end. But, more importantly at every single step, he thought about – and tried to – minimize how much his hardship would impact those around him. And did.

Greg may have been terrified, but we never saw it.

Tuesday, while surrounded by those he loved and loved him back – either there in person or in spirit – we shared stories and laugher and told him just how much we loved him. It was a tough as hell day that I wouldn’t wish it on anyone, but I also wouldn’t have it any other way. He was surrounded by love, looked as comfortable as he could, and wasn’t in the constant pain he had been in for the last half of this year.

I know with absolute confidence that I am not alone in the impact and love that Greg offered me, that anyone reading this will either know it, or be positively impacted by someone that he did.

And in the same way he lived a larger than life, life, his reach and positive impact touched just as many people. And there is always some laughter inherently tagging along.

Greg wouldn’t want us to be affected too long by the all too soon end to his time here, but I know he would love to know just how far and long his impact is and will continue to be. As much as we mourn the huge loss of a son, brother, husband, dad, friend, cousin, bandmate, grandson, coworker, etc. etc., we all have a job to do going forward to minimize just how much this loss hits us all: love unconditionally, push the boundaries, think about others first, and to swing for those fences… swing for those fucking fences!

We love you Greg. We always will.

❤️‍