brothers #Foreverstrong
AS WE GREW UP, MIKE AND I HAD A ROUGH START TO OUR RELATIONSHIP. MIKE AND I WERE TWO YEARS APART. OUR COMPETITIVE NATURE, INTERESTS IN THE SAME THINGS, AND CLOSENESS IN AGE CREATED SOME TURMOIL IN OUR RELATIONSHIP. DESPITE THOSE CHALLENGES IN OUR RELATIONSHIP, WE WERE ALWAYS BROTHERS, WE WERE ALWAYS THERE FOR EACH OTHER. THROUGH THE YEARS WE HAD PLENTY OF FUN LOVING TIMES IN OUR HOME. WE ALL HAD NICKNAMES IN OUR FAMILY. MINE WAS PORKY, WHICH WAS GIVEN TO ME BY MY FATHER, AS A RESULT OF ME LOVING COOKIES. MIKE TOOK THAT ON AS AN ENDEARING TERM FOR ME. THROUGHOUT THE YEARS, I'LL NEVER FORGET EVEN DURING THE ROCKY TIMES OF OUR RELATIONSHIP, HE WOULD EXPRESS HIS LOVE BY USING MY NICKNAME, PORKY. AS WE GOT OLDER, THE TIMES THAT WE WOULD ACTUALLY EMBRACE TO SAY HI OR GOODBYE TO ONE ANOTHER, HE WOULD ALWAYS WHISPER IN MY EAR..."I LOVE YOU, PORKY." I'LL NEVER FORGET THAT AND THE EMOTIONS OF LOVE THAT STIRRED.
ONE TIME MIKE, AS HE ALWAYS DID, CAME TO MY RESCUE. IN 2003, I WAS SEVERELY BURNED FROM A FURNACE THAT BLEW UP IN MY FACE IN MY OLD HOME IN BOUNTIFUL. I WAS RUSHED TO THE HOSPITAL. DESPITE OUR RELATIONSHIP STILL BEING ROCKY AND DIFFICULT, MIKE WAS THE FIRST ONE AT THE HOSPITAL. WHEN HE SHOWED UP HE WAS LIKE A BULL IN A CHINA CLOSET. HE WAS DIRECTING TRAFFIC, TELLING DOCTORS WHAT TO DO, TELLING THE PARAMEDICS WHERE TO GO, AND COULD IMMEDIATELY TELL THAT I WAS NOT BEING TAKEN CARE OF THE WAY THAT I NEEDED TO BE. HE INSISTED THAT I TRANSFER FROM THAT HOSPITAL. BECAUSE OF HIS PERSISTENCE I WAS PLACED IN AN AMBULANCE AND RUSHED TO THE BURN UNIT AT THE UNIVERSITY OF UTAH HOSPITAL, WHERE THEY WERE BETTER SUITED TO TREAT ME. THAT WAS MIKE. HE WAS ALWAYS THE GUY TO SHOW UP WHEN ANYBODY WAS FACING CHALLENGES IN THEIR LIVES.
LASTLY, THE MEMORIES THAT I WILL FOREVER HOLD ON TO ARE THE TIMES AND I HAD TO SPEND WITH HIM ONE ON ONE IN MY HOME THOSE LAST NINE MONTHS OF HIS LIFE, AS HE WAS STRUGGLING THROUGH A DIFFICULT DIVORCE. HE AND I WOULD SPEND HOURS TALKING. HE WOULD EXPRESS HIS HEART, PAIN, AND SORROW FOR YEARS OF THINGS THAT HE REGRETTED; ACTIONS, BEHAVIORS, AND THINGS THAT HE WISHED HE COULD CHANGE. ULTIMATELY HE WAS EXPRESSING LOVE, COMPASSION, AND CONCERN FOR THOSE HE LOVED THE MOST. AND HE TRULY WANTED TO BECOME A BETTER MAN. IT WAS THEN, THAT HE AND I CONNECTED AT A TIME AND PLACE THAT WAS PERFECT FOR BOTH OF US IN OUR LIVES. WE BOTH HELD ON TO THOSE FOND MEMORIES, EVEN UP UNTIL THE WEEKEND THAT HE PASSED. I STILL FEEL TO THIS DAY THAT THOSE TIMES WERE TENDER MERCIES FROM GOD TO ALLOW MIKE AND I TO RECONCILE THE PAST, OVERCOME THOSE STICKY, OLD COMPETITIVE SIBLING RIVALRY FEELINGS, AND TRULY EMBRACE ONE ANOTHER IN LOVE. WE WILL FOREVER BE BROTHERS, FOREVER STRONG. #LOVEBIGGER
writtten By: Kirk Wersland, brother
