I walked into class today, sat down, and looked up to the board to see a slide show of our army in war. It made me think of someone very close and important to me. He's my best friend, my rock, my brother. He was always drinking, partying, making poor choices as a high schooler. He didn't let his age keep him from having fun. He partied like there was no tomorrow. And sometimes, thats exactly how he felt. He would always tell us to have a blast today because tomorrow might not come. He would come home in the mornings and tell us his mistakes that he made that night, and then told us not to make the same mistakes. But sometimes, I thought he was bragging about how stupid he was. I guess thats how high schoolers are.
I looked up to my big brother. His name was Brandon Donaldson. He was an all-star football player for JDHS high school and he never let anything get in his way. He walked like there was no worry in the world and nothing could stop him. Whenever he got mad, he never rose his voice. He always spoke softly with us. I loved my brother. I knew that he was stupid, but he really taught me how to grow up. I learned everything from him. I always did what he told me to do. If he told me not to drink, I wouldn't. If he told me to go say something to my mom, I would.
One day he had a change of heart. He woke up from a short night of sleep and took me to go over to the army recruiting office. He signed a couple papers, got his ticket to Anchorage, and went to go take some tests. I wasn't quite sure what was going on. I didn't know why he wanted to go fight for our country. I didn't want him to die.
He left four years ago. He was stationed in Hawaii for all these four years and has been successful in everything that he does. Our family is so proud of him. Everything that he has done, has impacted us and him. He shakes my dads hand now when he sees him. He salutes us kids when we give him a hug. Now, he has a beautiful wife and a beautiful baby girl on the way.
It's like he knew that this is what his life was going to be like. He always told us to live it up like no tomorrow. And he did that. He did that everyday in Juneau. Now that he is doing something with his life, he is so much happier now.
MY definition of REMEMBERING, Brandon Donaldson.
