- The best part about growing up with Brad is that he was this crazy loose cannon. You never knew what was going to come out of his mouth next. He was fearless! Once, Mom was mad at him for something and was carrying on about how the entire house wasn't his "personal space," and then Brad said back to her, "so what, is it your personal space?" My brother Kurt and I laughed for hours.
(LOL! Brad is in blue.) - In the same vein, Brad was so "thoughtful" as a child. For Christmas he'd get Mom gifts like toilet bowl brushes and ice cube trays. Seriously. As he got older though, I think he started to give great gifts. One year he got me a digital picture frame (so cool) and last year he bought Shane a "World's Greatest Dad" shirt. Really thoughtful (please don't ever buy me a toilet bowl brush).
- The truth is, Brad and I fought like cats and dogs when we were little. We never wanted to sit near each other in the car. We just got mad a lot. I don't remember all the details, nor why. It seems so silly now! I guess big sisters just like to tease little brothers. I'm really glad that we grew up and just, all of a sudden, had stuff in common. And laughed. And loved each other.
- I don't know why this is hilarious, but it is: Brad loved to hack down brush in the woods. We lived in the country and our backyard was a lot of brush and weeds and growth and trees and who knows. He'd take a big stick or a baseball bat and just go out there and entertain himself all afternoon. He'd come back this crazy sweaty mess but he was super happy. It was mildly entertaining.
- Brad was the one that crazy stuff always happened to. There was always a new story about what was up with Brad. He's the only one of us who ever broke a bone. He was always doing this or that with the Boy Scouts. He went to concerts and played in Jazz bands and always had girls calling home that we'd tease him about.
- At one point, Brad was a real snoozer. He'd sleep in for hours. He had like 3 alarm clocks in his room and he'd have to set them all to go off a few minutes apart so he could drag himself out of bed and turn them off and wake up. Once, mom told us this story about how when Kurt was a little boy and Brad was a newborn, Kurt would go up to Brad and just poke him. Like, he didn't realize it was a real baby and not a toy or something. Poke poke poke. I thought that was funny and figured, what the heck? why break tradition? So when Brad was trying to wake up I'd run in his room and start poking him. I thought it was hilarious. He laughed too but I think secretly he wished he could beat me up.
- One day, when we were kids, Kurt and I decided we wanted to be tennis players. I don't know what possessed us. We went and bought rackets and started playing. We weren't half bad, actually. Well, soon enough, Brad decided he needed to play with us. He was a third wheel, of course, but we let him play. And what actually ended up happening is that Brad got better than both of us. He was a crazy machine on the high school tennis team. (Weren't you, Brad?) To this day I love playing tennis with my brothers. Even the three of us together was great fun -- no one felt left out. We'd do all sorts of trash talking and make inside jokes and have a lot of fun.
- One year for Brad's birthday, he was on the Atkin's diet. We've all tried the low-carb craze and it definitely sheds the pounds! But a birthday!? There couldn't be a more terrible time to be on a diet. I decided I was going to make him a "birthday surprise" out of hamburger patties, scrambled eggs, bacon, hot dogs, and cheese. I wrote "Happy Birthday, Brad!" on the hog dogs with ketchup like frosting. He was in such a good mood about his low-carb birthday and really loved the surprise. I would have been super depressed without sugar on my birthday, but not Brad.
- Some of my favorite memories are the summers when I was home from college. I worked at a restaurant and one day my white shirt wasn't dry. Oop. Brad had the great idea that I hang it on the ceiling fan in the living room and let 'er rip. It was the funniest thing I ever saw. I took a picture of my shirt spinning around on the fan, and Brad just sitting there on the couch looking devious. We had some good times.
- I remember one summer we shipped Brad off to Especially For Youth. EFY is an awesome time for anyone, but I could hardly believe what happened to Brad. He came home and gave us an FHE lesson about Joseph Smith, and I think I looked at Mom and Kurt and thought, "Who are you and what have you done with my brother?" It was seriously crazy to see Brad affected by such a spiritual experience, and I was glad I was there to share in the Spirit and hear all about it.
- Brad was the only one of my brothers who could come to my wedding. Kurt was on his mission at the time. I'm glad you were there to spend my special day with me, Brad! He got to meet Shane before we were married and he immediately loved him and thought Shane was so cool. It was good to have my brother's approval!
- One of my favorite things to do (I don't know when this started!!) is take pictures of Brad from the vantage point that buildings are coming out of his head. So far, we have the Space Needle, Chrysler Building, and U.S. Capitol. We need to go on many more vacations, huh Brad? Eiffel Tower, maybe? These photos are just hysterical.
(case in point...)
- Brad earned his Eagle Scout award. I'm so proud of him for that. What a good kid.
- I'm also proud of Brad for serving a mission. He went to Budapest, Hungary, and spoke probably the hardest language ever. Well maybe not, but close. I had lots of friends who served in that mission, too! A couple of them even gave him a pep talk on the phone and lent him some books. He was so excited when he got his mission call and he embraced his Church service. He loved it. I wrote him and sent packages and missed him and supported him. Nice work, little bro.
- Brad was famous for 15 minutes when he joined the BYU Marching Band. How cool is that? He got to go to football games all over the area and he made great friends and he even went to a March Madness tournament. I felt like I knew a superstar.
- When we were kids, there was the family in our ward with one cute little girl. She was all curls and smiles and all my memories are of her toddling around the Church building. Her name was Leslie. The boundaries were redrawn and her family all of a sudden was in another ward, and I didn't see her again for years. Brad didn't see her again for years, either. She grew up and met up with Brad before his mission and they had a few fun dates, and I'll be darned if she didn't write him on his mission, date him when he came back, and married him! Brad, you have the cutest wife ever! We sometimes can't believe that cute girl with curls turned into a gorgeous young lady and picked you as a husband! What a great family I have.
(my hub and I with the lovely couple on their weddin' day) - I like to give Brad a hard time for being a stinker sometimes, like he doesn't call our Mom enough or money burns a hole in his pocket. But Brad is so sweet, and he always listens to me and says he is going to be better. I imagine he is just humoring me, or wishing I wouldn't give him such a hard time, but he's a good sport about everything. I love you Brad! You're a good guy. Just keep doing your best and that will always be enough for me.
P.S. Just one more part left! Our saga concludes in September!
1 comment:
Thank you for being an awesome sister and writing me that wonderful blog post! It really was awesome going down memory lane....Where's everyone else's comments on how awesome I am??
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