My Brother Brandon

Brandon and I are probably the closest alike of any of my siblings, except that we are not blood related and he has ambition. Aside from that, we are both extremely creative in many of the same ways.

The year was 1986 when my father and stepmother started dating and I was introduced to her two kids, Brandon and Ryan. Of course, the first thing that went through my head was that my original name was Brandon and my brother’s name is Ryan too. Weird coincidence. Another weird coincidence was that Brandon is the artistic storyteller, like me, and Ryan is a daredevil, like the other Ryan.

Being so similar to a sibling can be, well, difficult. For one thing, I found myself being competitive for the first time. After all, there was somebody else who could do many of the things I could do. Brandon was competitive too, but more often than not he was collaborative. Instead of working on something by himself, he’d get others involved. Actually what he would do was get so many other people involved they did all the work while he barked out all the orders. Hmm… I must have taken a cue from him while working at The-World’s-Largest-Retail-Store because I ended up doing the very same thing.

But the biggest difference between Brandon and myself is that he has always felt free to express his feelings at any time without worry of what someone else might think. I find myself holding back most of the time or blogging about them on here because writing them out actually helps me express myself better since my tongue doesn’t always work properly. He also has always been comfortable in his sexuality in that he never felt ashamed or embarrassed to cuddle with his male friends even though he’s straight. That last bit may sound odd, but that is Brandon. I don’t think there is anyone else out there quite like him.

Currently Brandon works in the television industry for the animation department of a major cable network. I think he’s pretty happy there because basically he never has to really let go of his childhood except for that pesky business side of, uh, business.

Happy birthday, Brandon! I hope your dreams never get smaller and your success only continues to grow.