Life sucks, alot, these days.

My brother is back in jail. Apparently, he was homeless and using drugs again when he was picked up by the police about a week ago. I've already sent him a letter and a care pack, but haven't heard back from him yet (snail mail is slow, especially when it's going through security at the jail).

That's already sad, but today, our grandfather passed away. It was a bit unexpected; he had a cold last week, and I only found out Friday night when he was admitted to the hospital as he took a turn for the worse.

I'm struggling a little bit with telling my brother. I've written a letter to him. But, I keep imagining him alone, in his cell, getting this news. With nobody to talk to about it or comfort him. It feels cruel to drop this on him now, especially as things have been *so* hard for him recently (i.e. he was living in an alley, apparently, and not doing very well).

I don't know, what do I do? Nobody else in my family has any contact with him right now. And, given it was my mother's father... I don't think she's in any frame of my mind to even think about handling this with my brother.

Is it kinder to assume he'd want to know, and send the letter asap? Or to wait until he's doing a little better, then let him know? I think most people would say that they wanted to know... but I don't want to add more pain/stress to his life. (Especially as I'm stuck in another state myself, away from my family, with no one to talk to... and it's really hard. I think it would be 1000% harder if I were in jail.)

Any thoughts or advice? Thanks