As I grew up I had no idea what the future held for me and I never even thought about it, but I did know I had an older brother that would always be there for me. He was my protection, my hero, my monster fighter, and the voices of all my stories. I wanted to be just like him, do everything he did, and say everything he said; even if it got me into trouble. I looked up to him with so much passion because he had the same passion for life as I wanted. He loved everything with his big heart and he put every ounce of blood, sweat and tears into wrestling, as I wanted to put into something I loved. He had so much going for him and I wanted to be there along for the ride.
As Jeremy grew up, he only grew bigger in my eyes. He grew into such an exceptional young man and my admiration never grew dim. He entered North Forsyth High School as a new kid from Owatonna, Minnesota. Soon, people grew to know and love the brother that I wanted everyone to see.
My brother had one love, and that was wrestling. He lived and breathed the smell of wrestling mats, the sound of the whistles, and the sound of the referees tapping the mats. He gave his everything for this sport since he could remember. He joined North Forsyth’s wrestling team as a freshman and made varsity. He put his all into practice every day, and he can say he never missed one practice. He went on wrestling all through his senior year, placing in state each year. As his senior year rolled around, he took home the state title. My brother had it all going for him, the grades, the girlfriend, and the full ride scholarships screaming his name. As senior year came to a close, Jeremy let go.
He changed his whole outlook on life, gave up wrestling, the full ride scholarships, and threw it all away. He pushed people so far away that the one’s he loved didn’t know he existed. He began hanging with the wrong crowd, doing the wrong things, and pushing himself away from God, friends, Family, and anyone who loved him. He closed everyone out and fell so far down, that no one could help him. He had no one to turn to, and he felt that everyone had turned upon him. He finally hit rock bottom, packed his things, and left.


My “new” brother was around for a year. I occasionally saw him on holidays and weekends. He was unrecognizable with shaggy hair and toothpick body, yet he was still my brother and somehow I knew he was somewhere to be found. I cried every time I’d see him, hoping that his rock of a heart would somehow shatter and shed some light onto him. He never even blinked at the thought of his sister, breaking right in front of him. As I was realizing he had changed, nothing hit me harder than losing my brother. I prayed every night that one day he’d find God again and climb back up the steep hill and regain his life he had before, remember who cared about him, and fix all the broken pieces along the way. Finally, Jeremy would see God and see no one had turned away from him, but he turned away from us.

Gradually, My brother regained control of his life and began finding the people who loved him. He found a wife who was there for him through the crazy rollercoaster of a ride, we call life. He found a daughter who helped put the pieces back together. He finally grew up the right way and I could see he was finding himself again. He was finally becoming the man I knew he could be. He got his head on straight and never looked back.

As I look back now, I would of never known that the boy whose life was falling apart at the seams, was the Man that stood in front of me today. His head on straight, with his firefighting gear, and his wife and kids right there beside him. He has the same passion he had before, but he’s a stronger man because of the life’s obstacles he hit. He’s the hero I hope to become one day, and the man I’ll always look up to. I finally realized where I got all my strength and the fighter that’s in both of us, it’s in our blood. I hope someday he realizes how much he means to me, how much of a hero he has become, and how much of a man I think he is, but most of all he’ll never see a little sister love her big brother more than me.