...life is SO PRECIOUS, savor every moment...

We only have a very short time on this Earth, and every one of us has a purpose. I believe I have found at least part of mine. But that is not why I am here today... I'm here to talk about my baby brother, who we lost in August, 2014. He was almost 3 years younger, but he was a bit taller, about an inch. He was a bigger build. Outweighed me by a good bit but he was not heavy. He was about Dad's size.

I remember the last fight we ever got into, I believe I was 18 then, and he would have been 15. He was badgering me, as younger brothers sometimes do :D I'd finally had enough of it, suddenly jumped at him, but he was far enough away that I had to give chase! I caught him when he was cornered in the bathroom, grabbed him up under the chin, and raised him up on the sink. The fear in his eyes made me re-think, so I let him down. We were the same size at that time ;) He might have climbed up the sink partly, after all I had him in a partial choke hold. Like I said, that was the Last Fight we had, good thing I established dominance one last time, he was getting too big to fuss with! lol

Donny is his name. Donny had a job as a mechanic when he was a teen, maybe at 16 or 17, for a used car lot. He bought a used car there, quite cheap, and fixed it up. Sold that one, made money, bought another. I don't think her EVER lost money on a car deal, he really knew how to pick them, and being "in the business" had access to better deals than your average guy. Plus a little luck, maybe?

Don married in his early 20's, younger teen Barbie Doll, very innocent girl. You don't get more innocent than that, if you know what I mean. Don practiced what he preached, and he was a preacher. Part time, he had been going around to country churches in the area where they had no full time preaching. He did a youth missions thing before he married, I forget the name of it, AIM I believe. "Adventures In Missions". He ended up in the spot where he met his wife, around Bedford IN. They have 2 kids, a girl and a boy. My niece wrote an FB post after he died, saying she misses him every day and loved everything he did for them. Kinda summed it up for all of us...

Don had an older 4th generation Mustang, 2001 GT, very nice condition. 10 years old, it needed very few repairs if any. Except the trunk lid struts. The trunk lid would drop after a minute and he was carrying in groceries, when the trunk lid came down a little. He was grabbing several of those plastic grocery bags, took a little too long... when he raised his head, the trunk latch whacked him pretty good about 3" over his left ear. He shook it off, carried in the groceries, and that was it. Until on day, driving to work, he was passing by St. Francis Hospital. He had worked there in the past, oh, I kind of left out that this industrious little brother of mine was not only an accomplished mechanic, automotive and maintenance, a preacher, and a licensed RN. He had gotten that done while working a maintenance job, and preaching at the same time. Nursing School is quite the grind, I understand.

I saw a lot of Don during his illness. More than I had in years, and I cherish the memories. The very last time I saw him, I went up with mom and dad, it was on a weekend. Don could barely speak, but he was conscious and aware. We were having a somewhat one-sided conversation, which I am pretty good at, just ask my steemian friends ;) and once I got tired of talking for a while, we just watched TV for a bit. That OLD sit-com was on, who remembers Remington Steele? It had Pierce Brosnan as this "fake detective", he became a character from a novella series called Remington Steele, and with the MAJOR help of the female author of the series, he began solving crimes and cases. It was a somewhat silly show, but fairly popular with the "dashing" Brosnan as the star. My baby bro was watching this and started to chuckle. I keyed in on that and said, "This silly show, and then later they made that guy JAMES BOND? Gimme a Break!" Donny started to laugh harder! So I said "Can you believe that? James Bond???" He was laughing as hard as he could, nodding his head. Apparently he saw the irony of it also. When I told our sister, she said "YOU leave Pierce ALONE!" I guess he was her "favorite James Bond" :P lmao Don and I will always have that last laugh, We both thought Sean Connery was #1. I also like the "Bond" they have now, Daniel Craig. Less of a pretty-boy, hard edged and has to work a little harder to get-r-done! I can totally relate. Don liked him, too... That was our last time together, I will never forget.

I was working at Global Studies, a new building on the Indiana University campus, the day Don died. I got sent home, with pay (thanks Johnny!) and so did the apprentice that I was carpooling with. Oddly enough, this young man, only 20 years old, had some very good wisdom for me. He had an older brother he lost in the sandbox, Afghanistan I believe. He was a great comfort at the time, and I am glad it was his day to drive, also. I saw many good friends at the funeral, some I had not seen for years. Bad way to have a reunion, but you take what you get.

I was forced to think about this today by talking to a fellow steemian. MANY Thanks to my great friend <3 I owe you so much and wish you all the best... If anyone here gets the opportunity to have a phone call, or meet in person, someone who has made a positive impact on their life in Steemit, I say JUMP at the chance! It is worth the time!

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image credit: jamesbondwatchesblog.com