Inspired by Thunderfist or Thank Heaven for Little Brothers

I was the only girl growing up, sandwiched in between two boys. They shared a room right next to mine till my older brother turned 10, I think. Then he got the basement. Their room was always the "boys" room and all plots and schemes hatched in their quarters (mostly by my older brother who may have wanted to take over the world at some point-reality, thankfully, thwarted his efforts).

We moved to the Aves when I was 13, but had to live for two months in an apartment, the Brittania off of 7th East, before we could take over the house (the old house sold faster than anticipated and the tenants in the new house-we converted it from an apartment to a single family home-still needed to get out).

During our stay in the apartment my older bro slept on the couch in the living room and my little brother and I became roommates. You'd think that'd be awkward for a 13 year old girl to share a room with her 11 year old brother, but it wasn't. It was great. We often stayed up late, both laying in our beds, and solving the universe. We also had cable for the first time in our life, so MTV was also a big topic of discussion. That was back when they still played music videos most of the time and the height of Janet Jackson's "If", Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers "Free Fallin'", and Bonnie Raitt's "Let's Give 'em Something to Talk About". It was just for the last two months of my seventh grade year. I wore Girbaud's and crushed on skaters. My lil' bro still played with transformers and Super Mario. But sharing that room really bonded us.

He grew out of the transformers and video games and grew up to be a pretty decent young man. Everyone, and I mean everyone, who knew him knew how good he was. I've even caught myself on several occassions thinking he was just too good for this life. He would give a man the shirt off his back if he needed it. If you know anything about my family, or him, you'll know he died three years ago in a hiking accident up at Donut Falls in Big Cottonwood Canyon. He died saving the life of his friend Jeanette Smith from a 2 ton boulder. He was 22. He died the way he lived. They shut the place down after the accident. I'm told the city has now purchased the land and plans to open it up again. Not sure how I feel about that.

Comments

Unknown said…
*sigh* I love little brothers too! How soon would they open it up again do you know?
Unknown said…
So I called Patrick over at the mayor's office and told him how I felt there should be some sort of memorial and/or warning up at Donut Falls. He says the land was purchased January 16th and may already be open, but that he would propose something be put up. I will probably have to check back with him to see if anything will be done and when and what that will be.
Unknown said…
Good for you for being proactive about it. Hopefully they will put some saftey things up.

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