This might be a weird topic to drum up in my head but it’s one that really had me puzzled this morning.
As I looked at these photos of my brothers (mainly Walter because Zac didn’t jump in the water) I thought of all the times I met people that hated their siblings as I sit here and love my siblings so much.
Now don’t get me wrong there is a time when “Loyalty” is a bullshit disguise for dependency and a blood-sucking energy vampire of a family's resources.
We all have one of those cousins, brothers, aunts, or uncles.
Luckily for myself, one of those has never been one of my siblings and the bond us brother share is unspeakable.
Maybe it’s due to growing up without a father and us all being boys as well.
A commonality like that creates a type of camaraderie that only comes once in a lifetime.
I’m very blessed in this aspect of my life.
I learned early what it means to be loyal and I learned early what it means to forgive (They are really one and the same if you ask me.)

Imagine being punched in the face by one of these guys and being forced to shake hands after, you’ll learn to forgive real fast.
For me, though my brothers always had my back, we always spent time together and challenged each other to do better than the next.

When thinking about these siblings I’ve met that hate each other and the grudges they hold I can’t help but think about my father’s killer.
What a weird feeling to have.
To grow up not having something yet still missing the presence of that thing you never had.
Yet I don’t hate the man that killed my father
I forgave him years ago.
If I didn’t I would have driven myself crazy.
That is what hate does, it drives us crazy because it is not an ill-founded feeling.

If someone disrupts your way of living how else are you supposed to feel?

I don’t have the answers to this but all I know is that forgiveness has always brought me closer to my brothers and days like this are the ones that make me realize just how lucky I am.