My family... again

I know I'm at risk of whining about my family too much..... apologies to anyone that can't be arsed to read this sort of thing.......

I talked to my brother for the first time since I found out that he was leaving his wife. That's a whole month. It actually happened by accident, I rang my Gran to apologise for missing her birthday (I got the dates mixed up again) and he picked up the phone at her house. He's living there at the moment.

(If you want to get really confused, my other brother is still living with my sister-in-law).

We broached the subject but didn't really talk in depth about it. He complained that he was constantly being accused of having an affair. I desperately wanted to tell him to consider how it all looked from the outside - a seemingly happy marriage that has suddenly fallen down like a stack of cards.

He moaned that he has to go to the pub alone at the minute, as it's the only escape he gets from people talking about it, and he can't do it with friends as they have all turned their backs on him. I want to tell him that he's made his bed, and now he has to sleep in it.

But it wasn't worth the argument. He's obviously made a decision, rightly or wrongly, and nothing I say will change that. But I can't help think that he has stuffed up, and will now spend another bunch of miserable years of being single, where all he'll do is whinge about how lonely he is. Again.

He is desperate for me to head back that way and spend some time with him. I think that he thinks that I'm a good listener that won't offer judgement in such a situation, and that I'll cheer him up. But I really don't want to spend one of my days off picking up the pieces of his life.

I don't know if that's selfish. He is my brother, after all. He may be an idiot, but he's still my brother.