That must be crushing. My brother is going down this path after moving to the south. I know it weighs heavily on my parents and I can’t imagine it.
I almost went down that path myself with the libertarian party before the tea party came to being. This is the brother I was closest to growing up. I never understood how siblings could drift so apart throughout life. I really hope we don’t have the same fate.
My wife and I do things in threes: three taps, three nudges, three blinks, three noises, whatever. It means “I love you”. It’s a nice way to say it when you’re too tired to say it. I think it originated when we’d say it as we were falling asleep.