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M o n d a y M o r n i n g M o t i v a t i o n W i t h M i k e #29

Today, my brother, Brandon Wayne Wright would’ve been 39.

Yesterday, my fam celebrated with his fam and it was a good day.

Today, I laughed out loud on the way to work thinking of a memory of him.

Today was also a good day.

Below, the picture on the left was taken of his nephew Brysen and my Jordan in 2012 at Brandon’s house celebrating the birth of his beautiful daughter.

Jordan was 1 here, Brysen was 2, my Kaison was just over a month, and his Somer was 2 days old.

Yesterday the boys tried to remake the picture.

HI-LARIOUS.

Brandon played such a huge role in my life and had such a strong influence on so much of me for so long that it's hard to do anything or go anywhere here in Austin without thinking about him.

I have memories of him and with him all over this damn city.

And what’s crazy, is before meeting B, I never once considered considering moving to Austin.

Growing up in San Antonio and the way I was back then, Austin was some weak, hippy filled, far away town-- even though it's only an hour away-- that I never gave two thoughts about, and gave even fewer sh*ts about.

He is and was 100% the reason why I moved here. Without him in my life I would have likely never moved here and quite possibly may have never met my perfect wife and would have not had the opportunities this beautiful city has afforded me.  

When I told him I was moving here, without me even having to ask and with zero hesitation he hooked up a trailer to his truck, headed northbound on I-35, and met me at my apartment in Dallas.

We loaded it all up, I followed him here, we dropped our ex's off at his mom's house (which was only 3 blocks from my 1st apt here) and together, he and I, moved all my stuff in my new apt off Manchac.

And we did it our way.

We moved 3-4 items, then stopped for a cold beer, moved another  3-4 items, then drank another.

It wasn't long before we were moving 1 item and drinking 3-4 in between.

That went on for wayyyy longer than it should have. By the time we were done we were both hammered, sh*t was everywhere, and our crazy ex's were bitching something fierce!

But damnit, it was fun and that memory is one of my many favorites. I'm grateful for that crazy bastard you see here in this pic.

I'm forever indebted to you, Brandon for getting me here to Austin, figuratively and literally. Everything I have I owe to you.

Y’all have no idea how true that statement is.

For those of you who are unaware, before my wife I was in a 5 year relationship and engaged.

An invite from B for some dranky dranks one Saturday night in early March of 2010 was the alpha and the omega to me ending that relationship.

Literally could’ve married the wrong person if he didn’t invite me out that on Saturday night.

And what’s even crazier is that’s not even the wildest contribution he’s had on my day to day life today!

Jordan, my oldest son, may not have ever existed if it wasn’t for B! But that’s a story for another day.

And, yup you guessed it, this is also even crazier, this incredible man not only took life as a United States Marine in Iraq defending all that he loved, us. He also saved life while serving honorably as a firefighter here in the Austin, serving all that he loved, us.

Yes, you read that correctly, he took life and saved a life.

What a life!

Below is a picture of him and Jack, the young man who’s life he’s credited with saving and below it was a text thread ours, along with a picture of his award for having saved Jack’s life.

He truly was one of a kind, the last of a dying breed, and he lived a life of a thousand men.

I should've known better than to think God wouldn't want him home early.

I often feel his presence and reminisce about the great memories we had.

As much as it hurt and still does to have lost him I wouldn't change having him in my life, regardless of how cut short, for nothing.

I love you my brother, thank you for giving me all of you, thank you for making me a better man, thank you for everything, I'm eternally grateful to have had you in my life.

Thank you, also, for giving me your family. Neither my wife nor myself are from Austin and we have no family here.

Except for his family, they’ve always welcomed me and mine and always treated us as their own and for that I am also eternally grateful.

Below, pictured is my Kaison and his Somer, both exactly born one month apart from each other. First pic they were just a few months old and the more recent picture was taken at her birthday celebration a week ago. They’re both 12 now.

Life’s a trip, que no?

I hope you all enjoyed reading about my brother, now go tell all your loved ones how much you love them and live life to the fullest tomorrow and every day moving forward!

Thanks again for reading!

And please never forget:

You never know what someone is going through, so just be kind.

Much love, mi gente!

- Mike O’Hara

PS

"Don't cry because it's over, smile because it happened" - Dr Suess

As always,

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