This handsome guy is my brother, Dan... He'll probably kill me if he sees this pic. Hehehe, but he shared it online so I figured it was fair game.
What can I tell you about Dan? I can tell you my biggest regret, and that is not being as close to him these days as we were when we were kids.
I don't have a good memory of my childhood. Most of it seems vague, blurry and unreal. I'm not sure how much of it is true and how much is in my head. But for many years, I kept a rather detailed record of my day-to-day and my thoughts about things in diaries.
I was reading back through some of those and I was reading about Dan. Our childhood isn't as much a memory for me as it is a feeling I get when I read about those times. As I imagine how they were. Borrowing dad's watch Friday nights so we could wake up and watch Super Friends on Saturday morning... Catching frogs and crawdads in the creek...
Dan was my built in buddy as a kid. We did everything together. Now I probably see him once or twice a year. But that's understandable. Dan has a lot of competition for his time. He's raising 8 kids and working two jobs to support his family. Between his work and his kids, he's probably tired.
But I miss him. Very much.
I'm fortunate to be in contact with various members of his family, including his wife, Amy... She and I are good friends and I get updated on his activities from her. She's fantastic at letting me know how he's doing and what's going on. In that way, I feel like I'm still a part of his life.
Dan is a good man. He works hard, and does his very best to raise his family. There's not a single word I could ever say about him that wouldn't contain my respect and appreciation for the man he's become!
I love him very much. He's my brother. I would move the world for him.
Dan is a reason for being.
This lovely young lady is my sister, Renae Stucki. I'm not sure why I decided to spend some time writing about her tonight except I was thinking about positive people who impact my life and she popped into my head.
The truth is, I never really got to know her as we were growing up. She was around Brian a lot and kinda doing her own thing so I never spent much time with her. Even as an adult, my contact with her was fairly limited. That is until she moved back to St. George with her family.
Since that time, I've become extremely close to her. At least I feel like I have. She's one of the most generous, kind hearted human beings I've ever known. She's got that fire most of my sisters have. That spark you never wanna get going cause heaven help you if you get their dander up... Lol. She'd be right there defending her family if anyone threatened them and she's got an incredible will. She sets her mind in one direction and won't accept anything short of progress.
I think Renae's greatest strength is her willingness to act. When you stop and think about a dangerous situation or something that happens quickly, Renae is one of those people who reaches a decision quickly and moves forward to act on it. I do it to a lesser degree. When I'm approached by someone at work to do something, I move right into the job and get to work. She does it on a much larger scale. She's also one of those people who springs into action when there's an emergency. I fancied myself as one of those people, but once at her house, Kade fell down the stairs and I was closest to him. I just kinda stood there dumbfounded while she leaped past me to catch him. There's no doubt about it, she's fast! And that ability to act separates her from most people.
Growing up, I always thought of her as Sha-Nae-Nae. That nickname seems less funny now that Shane Dawson has a character on his youtube channel using that name. Lately, when I think of her, I get the name "Renesbet". You pronounce it RA-NEZ-BET. What the crap that means I have no idea. It just fits her. That's who she is in my head.
Oh, and one more thing super quick before I wind this up... Renae has one habit I find endlessly entertaining! She's one of those blooper people. She'll talk off the top of her head sometimes. And those statements can be quite shocking! Even Freudian at times. I wonder about her comments, but I also find them amusing and I think it's refreshing to be around someone who feels comfortable enough to say what they're thinking.
I sometimes think God took pity on me. I went in so many directions in my life I've missed out on a lot of good things. Renae is one of them. Knowing her now, I can't imagine not having contact with her. She's more than just a sister, she's my friend. And I'm so thankful I have a chance to know her.
Renae is a reason for being.
