And Then We Met....

The next few days were nothing but a blur. We would talk for hours on end. If we weren't on the phone with each other, it's all we thought about. We wanted to get to know everything we could about each other as quickly as possible.

The more we learned about each other, the crazier things got. We are so similiar it's hard to believe. We both were insanely obsessed with Top Gun as children - we watched it multiple times a day. It also peaked our interest to want to be Naval Aviators when we grew up. No one will watch the movie with us now to this day because we recite the lines about five minutes before they happen - word for word... and get all amped up and excited.

We also both did Athletic Training in high school, and started college with Athletic Training as our majors.

We do the same quirky things, that we were for sure no one else in the world did. It makes me feel so at home around him. It's like hanging out with myself all the time. My friends say the same thing.... when they hang out with the two of us at the same time, it's like Double Brandi all the time.

At the time he was planning on leaving for the Navy in July, and we felt like our time was super limited. We decided that we needed to meet as soon as possible. He was already planning on coming up here to Ohio with the family in June for a family reunion, but we decided that we couldn't wait that long.

We got everything together and lined up, and the following weekend I was going to drive down to Tennesse and pick him up to bring him to Ohio to spend the weekend. The week crept by, we were both SO excited to finally get to meet each other.

The drive to Tennessee seemed never ending. It was a seven hour drive. The farther I got into the drive, it seemed like I wasn't getting any closer. All I wanted was to get there and be in his arms. He talked to me the whole way down. He wouldn't let me tell him where I was, because it only made him realize how far away I still was. He only wanted to know when I had gotten into Tennessee.

When I finally got off the highway, and onto his road, I wanted to turn around a go back. Not only was I about to meet my brother, I was about to meet my dad. My stomach was in my throat. I couldn't handle the nerves or anticipation. I finally pulled up to the house, and there he was... waiting outside. I got out of the car and hugged him. And hugged him. It was one of the single most comforting moments of my life. I will never forget it for the world.

I finally felt like I belonged. I belonged in a world I was not sure would ever exist for me. He walked me up to the house, to where I met my father. We chatted for a bit, exchanged contact information. It all seemed so surreal. I felt SO at ease around these two men that I had just met minutes before. An ease I had longed for for SO long. An ease I feared I would never know.

We had to get going to make a dinner date, and as we were leaving it happened. I hugged my father for the first time in my life. Next to getting married and having my children, that was THE best feeling of my life.