So I decided to write a post about my brother. It got me pumped to think about writing a blog about someone who I have looked up to my whole life.
So Joe and I have had some great times. We grew up playing video games for sure. It would usually be me watching Joe play. I would always talk like I knew what the best games were, as if I played them. Then Joe would actually play them and beat them. He beat Castlevania 3 without dying. How is that even possible at 10 years old? Genius, probably. We conquered GoldenEye, Quarter Back Club 98, Hang Time, Jackle, Halo (all like, 8), Modern Warfare etc. He also really liked Resident Evil.......I never really got that one. Also, want to see something spectacular? Ask Joe to play Star Fox FX on Super Nintendo...its Luna Lovegood how good he is.
He was always smarter. He took harder classes. I took the minimal to get the advanced degree. It seems to me like I never saw him in school, ever. He was two years older. He got picked on sometimes. I hated that. I remember seeing it happen once in middle school. So lame. Those kids had no idea. They were considered the popular kids, but what did they know? Some challenges are hard...but I can never imagine getting picked on in school. (However, Joe has a great life and well...the gospel...) He did befriend one of them, Chandler, who really helped all that. Those two are hilarious together.
I never got much of that. Joe and I hardly ever made the basketball team. Haha...we laugh about it now. I remember some of those kids coming out with us to play at the church and we smoked them. Haha. Joe played one year of football. I'll never forget him catching a pass that he tipped to homself. I was stoked.
Also...Joe always surprised me. Like...the Star Fox thing...but...it seems like one day, out of nowhere, Joe was just amazing at baseball. Yeah, he led the little league in home runs one year. He hit one so far out of the park that the only thing that stopped the ball was the tree it hit. It was a shot. I'll never forget it just lifting off...and just going up and up until my lame sauce eyes couldn't see it anymore. Most of the time, he wouldn't make it on the All-Star team, because the players picked the team and they didn't pick him, but the coaches would call him. He was just that good.
Anyway. Joe was always stronger too. We fought with our fists I think twice. I learned pretty fast. I always thought I could take him in a heart beat. Basically, I thought....well I act tough (I was always acting like the tough guy) I should actually be tough right? Wrong! Joe once threw me over his back. I came at him again...and he did the same move again and threw me over his back. I'll never forget that. I had no chance. I remember, because he had just made the JV basketball team and was doing basketball workouts. Naturally, he was stronger than me, because I worked out..........never?... Sounds right. (EXCEPT in later years!!! I'm stronger now...sheesh...) I also once tried to punch Joe...he just pushed me down and held me down. Embarassing.
Joe is the first missionary in either side of the family. I honestly believe that if it wasn't for him going I probably wouldn't have gone either. It's funny. My parents and I knew so little about Joe's plans. Essentially, he just came home one day and was like, "Got my mission call. I'm going to Salt Lake." I remember laying on the couch...poking my head up and saying......what?......He did it all with so little knowledge to us, especially me. We talked...just not much as we should. All I remember is, Joe, Institute, and some girl. I was a bit preoccupied with my band and working, buying a huge drum set and probably some girl that I worked with.
Joe will soon be the first to get married. That's just crazy. It's nice to finally see that. Joe has been through a lot to get there. He's counciled me a lot about it all. He was telling me about a conversation he had with his roommate because he had just left a relationship. He asked my brother how it felt, what it was like to have someone, and how it worked. Joe just said that they put up with eachothers differences. That he, the roommate, needed to learn to be ok with the differences and struggles. And don't mind them. He also said that it's not what's similar that his fiance and himself have to deal with, its the differences. My Mom said something similar not too long ago. But I feel Joe has been that way for a while. He's such a loving guy. He would have probably married the first girl he dated.
That doesn't sum it up...but it's brief on one of the most stellar people in my life. I could keep writing too. It suffices me to say, though, that he's been nothing short of a great brother.
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