A Day With My Brother

I am having serious travel withdrawals, like many others, I’m sure. Between the pandemic and some personal health things, I haven’t had as much opportunity to go explore as I would typically enjoy. So, for now, we’ll relive some old trips.

My brother is only fifteen months younger than me. We love each other, but we’ve had extreme periods of sibling rivalry, or whatever you want to call it. We haven’t always agreed with each others’ choices and have had periods in our adulthood when we didn’t talk very much.

Over the past several years, we’ve gotten much closer. We actually spent a day together last year wandering around Los Angeles, which I truly treasure.

Both of us are fans of the San Francisco 49ers. He’s much more hardcore than I am. He’s been to several games in person, owns tons of jerseys, and watches religiously on television when he can’t be there in person. He schedules his visitation and business around football. (Seriously, one of his custody stipulations is that he gets my nephew for the Super Bowl every year.)

Although I love sports and have “my teams,” if I’m honest, I don’t follow and watch all that much. I don’t actually watch television very often, however I’m not opposed to watching the games with people who enjoy them.

One of my goals last year was to watch my first NFL game in-person, and my brother happened to be going to see the 49ers play against the Rams in Los Angeles. My oldest son loves the Rams, so we figured he’d take my nephew and I’d take my son for his birthday (which happened to fall on that same weekend).

Unfortunately, my son couldn’t get the day off of work and his son didn’t really want to go. So, we went, just the two of us. I can honestly say that is one my favorite experiences and memories with my brother as adults.

I took an overnight bus from Las Vegas to Los Angeles and my brother picked me up at four in the morning. We went back to his Airbnb and I got to be there when my nephew woke up. My nephew and his mom dropped us off near the stadium and drove home to Arizona.

It was just the two of us and he was so excited to be at the game and to show me around and experience it with me. The atmosphere was amazing, the game was awesome, and the people around us were all having a great time, even if they were rooting for the Rams. The 49ers won, which was a huge bonus.

After the game we took the train to the beach and wandered around talking and eating and laughing. I ended up coming home with a wicked sunburn, but it was well worth the experience.

We ended the night at the airport where we’d part ways to return home; me to Vegas and him to Phoenix. I think that’s the only adventure we’ve been on with just the two of us as adults. It’s certainly something I’d like to do more often.

I admire my brother’s passion for his favorite sports teams and the fact that he has made it a point to figure out how to go see them and support them live in his city, the team’s home town, and other places. He has actually scheduled work trips around sports so that he could take advantage of sneaking in a game or two.

I love seeing people follow their dreams and passions and live in alignment with them. What’s something you do purely for the love of it, or a goal you have to follow your dreams and passion?