HI, IT’S ME AGAIN! In the spirit of national siblings day, I’ll be writing about my brothers and I! Usually, I pick photos first and then start writing. Instead, I tried something different and flipped the two and wrote first…
I’m going to start off by saying that I f*cking love my brothers. We didn’t always getting along, especially growing up as kids. We did typical stuff: Play street sports, video games, beating each other up (well, I would strictly only be getting beat up because I’m the youngest)…A memory that cracks me up now but always got me mad was when they used to surprise-scare me in random areas of the house. We had a long hallway in our childhood home- Sometimes I didn’t want to walk down the hall because I didn’t want them to scare me for the 100th time. On the flipside, it was a great place to play hide and go seek. Those were the fun days.
As we grew older, I became closer with Brian more than with Joe, mainly because Brian and I had to share rooms all the way to middle school, while Joe was the oldest and started doing his own thing in middle school and high school. When Brian and Joe both went to Bonita High School together, they had a good reputation at school, and everyone who played soccer knew who they were. Even till this day I get approached by random people because they knew of them.
Jerry eventually moved up north to manage at Lucille’s BBQ while Brian and I lived together in Upland for a few years. We had some fun house parties at this place- I miss those days! When it was time to sell that house, I moved to Orange County with Joe and Brian moved back to La Verne. I have had the privilege of living with both brothers separately. Living with both of them gave me a chance to connect with them onto a high level of communicating and understanding of each other.
There are reasons as to why I enjoy growing older. One of these reasons is you become wiser- life around you makes more sense… Unique life experiences, happiness, and deep sorrows have run in and out of this family for as long as I can remember. Now that Mom and Dad have passed, our love as brothers have only gotten stronger throughout the years. We say I love you to each other constantly and “check” each other when one of us is wrong. Mom passed away when I was 18 years old and then 31 when Dad passed. So naturally, I had to turn to my brothers (and still do today) for life guidance and comfort. They themselves had to seek out answers sooner than most people do at their age. Our extended family is close on both sides and our small group of friends have been the same people for over 20 years. And it is all of these and many other reasons as to why I’m glad to have my brothers.
MUCH LOVE FROM YOUR BABY BROTHER,
JUSTIN