AUSTIN...

It's been 10 months since my last post, and for some reason I had a feeling like I should blog about something. On January 1st I lost my little brother to cancer, I have been struggling with this since it happened. I figured to help me out I was gonna write something about him and all the memories we shared, and since I haven't blogged for a year I'm guessing I will be the only one who read's this.

I remember the first time I met Austin my Mom had been dating his dad for a little while and they thought it was time for the two of us to meet. They had decided to take us out riding dirt bikes and four wheelers, perfect because I know everything about that stuff and I'll teach this kid all he needs to know. Little did I know this little bastard was the second coming of Travis Pastrana! He could do anything he wanted on his bike I have never seen anyone ride as good as he did. We immediately became friends, our parents got married shortly after and he moved in with us right before my senior year of high school. Because my mom was "the koolaid mom" Austin became "the koolaid step brother" to me and all of my friends, he would always be in the room listening to all the wisdom high school kids could give. I'd like to think that he looked up to me he would copy a lot of the things I would do whether I was bleaching my hair or wearing pooka shells (sorry Austin). He was always such a good sport, one memory that pops to my head is that one day I decided to buzz off all my hair, knowing me I wasn't going to do it with out a practice round on somebody thank the lord I had this little bro who I could practice these things on. I went up to his room and asked him if I could buzz his hair I remember the look on his face when he turned around and said "are you gonna do it" I answered yes but I want to do yours first just to see how it looks but I promise I will do it if you do. We went out on the deck and I put the #2 attachment on the buzzer and went to town. After I was done I had relised that it was way to short and I wanted a #4 on my head, this didn't go over to well with him he was so upset that I cut his hair so short and I wasn't going to do the same. So after calming the little guy down and letting him drink one of my Dr peppers he put the #4 attachment on and buzzed my head for me. Austin and I became obsessed with bowling in the summer of 2002 we both got our own balls and tried to bowl everyday the two of us and our parents joined a bowling league that summer and it was so much fun. Every Sunday at the sandy lanes they would do all you can bowl for two hours, we went there one Sunday and the two of us bowled 17 games! From wrestling to telling stories around the fire I have so many memories of Austin. I remember the last time I talked to him it was about 3 months ago he sent me a picture of himself with no hair and said "pretty sexy huh", I immediately called him and said well it could be worse you could have bleached hair. We talked for about 5-10 min about bowling and how I was going to go to jack and jill and get his ball back so we could go again. I am so thankful that I got to say goodbye to him before he passed away gave him a hug and told him I loved him. I'll tresure all the memories we had together! Your the man Austin thanks for being such a good person I hope you know how much you meant to me.