In the past 1,398 days I have seen my brother Braden in person for only 7. In the other 1,391 I’ve briefly spoken to him on the phone on 6 occasions and seen his face on Skype only once. We haven’t had a Christmas, Thanksgiving, or Halloween together since the winter of 2006. But on May 6th, that will all change.
Do you ever feel like there’s someone in the world who knows you better than anyone? Someone who knows exactly how your mind works, knows what your motivations and values are, knows where you’ve been, where you’re at, and where you’re going. Someone who you can be your complete and exact self with because they require no explanation. Braden is one of those people to me.
It might be because we shared a room since the day he was born. It might be because we both like seeing results, but are both definitely ready for quirky random adventures. It might be because of the thousands of hours playing Adventure Castle, block wars, board games, matchbox car role playing (each car with a name that ended in a “Y” for some reason) or the fact that every single family board game turned into a Braden vs. Travis death match. It might be because of our teamed-up teasing of our lovely sister Camille or comradery/mentoring of Derek (me trying to make him more dream-chasing, and Braden trying to make him more practical). Whatever it is, we know each other more than anyone ever has.
For the past 4 years we’ve e-mailed each other once a week, missing only two or three weeks out of the 200. For the first half of those years they were sent from Taiwan to America, and the last half from America to Russia. We’ve filled each other in on school, on baptisms, on girls, on exchanges, on our family, on scriptures, on our dreams, on our futures. Every week I can honestly say I looked forward to his e-mails more than any other piece of real or electronic mail. Because even in the time we’ve been apart, I’ve never felt closer to him. And whether he was home earning the Monson Scholar award and conducting a flash mob, or at Russia being a leader and changing people’s lives, I’ve never felt so proud of being his brother.
Next year we will once again be roommates. And another one of our best friends, younger brother Derek, will be in town as well. Party? Yes.
Braden my brother. I am so excited to have you back!
Monday, April 11, 2011
Saturday, April 2, 2011
Snowball
Once upon a time I was an EFY Counselor. I was put on the Variety Show committee and was therefore involved in the auditions.
A girl named Grace made a decision to try out. Her voice was really good. She got in the talent show.
A year later she was at BYU and I ran into her and we became friends since I remembered her from the talent show.
The next year, because I remembered how well she sang I asked her to audition for GleeYU, the music group I started. She made it in.
During a concert, the administrator of the BYU events team, saw Grace and talked to her afterwards.
Grace was offered a job on the events team, loves her job, and is finding new windows of opportunity from the job every day.
All because she decided to audition for the talent show at a summer camp in high school years before.
It’s interesting how one little decision leads to other things down the road. If she had never auditioned, she would not have been given the job that she has now. I think it says something about always being ready to seize opportunities. It’s worth it to apply for that scholarship, to try out for that team, to go to that event, to meet that extra person. Who knows what your seemingly small decision will lead to in the future. Who knows what kind of chain you’ll be able to make one day that says, “Because I did this…that happened”, “because of that, this opportunity came up”, “because of that situation, I was able to achieve this”, “and because I decided to do this one little thing in April 2011, all of that happened.”
So go do that one little thing, for it is April 2011.
A girl named Grace made a decision to try out. Her voice was really good. She got in the talent show.
A year later she was at BYU and I ran into her and we became friends since I remembered her from the talent show.
The next year, because I remembered how well she sang I asked her to audition for GleeYU, the music group I started. She made it in.
During a concert, the administrator of the BYU events team, saw Grace and talked to her afterwards.
Grace was offered a job on the events team, loves her job, and is finding new windows of opportunity from the job every day.
All because she decided to audition for the talent show at a summer camp in high school years before.
It’s interesting how one little decision leads to other things down the road. If she had never auditioned, she would not have been given the job that she has now. I think it says something about always being ready to seize opportunities. It’s worth it to apply for that scholarship, to try out for that team, to go to that event, to meet that extra person. Who knows what your seemingly small decision will lead to in the future. Who knows what kind of chain you’ll be able to make one day that says, “Because I did this…that happened”, “because of that, this opportunity came up”, “because of that situation, I was able to achieve this”, “and because I decided to do this one little thing in April 2011, all of that happened.”
So go do that one little thing, for it is April 2011.
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