Harry Mills

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George's Tribute to Harry

I once asked my brother, “Harry, what do you want to be when you’re older?” and he instantly replied “a professional footballer”, I then said “okay, but millions of kids want to be professional
footballers, what if you can’t be one?” and he said “a professional rugby player” and I said “what if you can’t be that?” “He answered a professional cricket player.” “And what if you can’t be that?” “A professional tennis player.” He went on to name almost every sport he had ever played until I eventually said “ look Harry, what if you can’t do anything involving sport? And he said a fireman. When I asked why he wanted to be a fireman he replied, “I dunno” and walked off.

He was brilliant like that, and I regret every minute of every hour of every day since the day he died that I didn’t tell him he was brilliant, I regret the last thing I said to him wasn’t I love you instead of arguing why he wouldn’t eat a Sunday roast without ketchup.

I will never come to understand why he died so young, why he wouldn’t be able to grow up so we have kids that can play together, why I wouldn’t be able to take him to school in my car when I learnt how to drive, and why I will never be able to be the brother to him that I wanted to be.

If there is one thing I will learn from this it’s the value of life. The worth of every day and how precious time is, unlike me Harry knew how precious life was, and he never took time for granted like when he used to get up everyday at 6 in the morning to practice playing snooker, or when I would wake up to him playing fifa in the morning. He lived his day to the full and achieved so much, achieved things which made people proud to know him, and which made me proud to be able to call him my brother.