About Brandon
Today is my friend Brandon’s birthday. Let me tell you about the time he saved my life.
I’ve known Brandon for an astonishing 27 years. We met on a Sunday night in church when were both seven years old, and we’ve been friends ever since. Our lives have diverged at times, and other times they’ve seemed almost identical. Through it all, he’s been the single constant in my life.
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I made some mistakes in my twenties. Financially, I got myself into just enough trouble to get stuck, but not enough that I ever hit bottom and had to make a real change in my life. I kicked around south Alabama for a few years, waiting tables and ducking real life, and every single night I’d lay awake and think of all the ways I’d ruined my life.
Brandon had moved to California during the first dot-com boom, but he called me every week without fail. If he hadn’t, I doubt I would have made much effort to keep in touch. In those days, my most basic life strategy was to avoid as many of my loved ones as possible. I just didn’t want to admit to anybody how much I was failing at life.
One day it all fell apart on me and I decided to get out of town. I called Brandon, and without hesitation he offered me a spot on his couch.
I slept there for a year.
Everything good in my life; my wife, my children, my home came to me because of his act of generosity. I turned my life around in that year, and I started the process of really, truly growing up.
And that’s only the biggest thing he’s ever done for me. I could name a dozen more. He’s the most generous person I’ve ever known.
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My favorite story about friendship is Sherlock Holmes. To me, the Sherlock Holmes stories aren’t about crime or mysteries. When I read them, they’re about friendship. Watson loves Holmes. Holmes loves Watson. Sometimes they’re close and sometimes they aren’t, but they are always friends and always ready for adventure.*
I read my first Sherlock Holmes story shortly after I met Brandon, and from the beginning their story has been my story about Brandon and me.
I’ve always been Watson to his Holmes. Brandon is the smart one. The one that people seek out for help. The one who’s always in search of the next adventure. Like Holmes, Brandon is singular.
I also sincerely believe that someday he’ll fall over a waterfall and miraculously survive.
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There’s so much more I could say, but I’ll leave it at this. I think he saved my life long before he let me crash on his couch. He made friends with me when I was a scared kid in a new town, and he taught me that the world is a place of wonder, and that has made all the difference in my life.
Happy Birthday, Brandon. Thanks for saving my life over and over.
