The Strength To Build A Better Life

I have a younger brother that I love dearly. He was born when I was thirteen years old, and I considered him to be "My" baby brother from that day since.

Of all the people in my life, he has been the one that won my heart without any words. And has broken my heart in the same manner. All I ever wanted for him was to be successful and stable. Those two things don't fit so easily together. I've always expected too much from him, and that's my fault.

Now that he's nearing forty years old, I still continue to ache over the decisions he's made in his life and for his future. You see, he's an alcoholic with an addiction to drugs. He starts his day with a beer and spends his day looking for his next high. These are his choices for his day, instead of playing with his five year old son or helping his mother with the house or errands. No one knows when he gets home or what shape he is in. He doesn't even care about where to sleep. The floor is fine.

Regardless of his lifestyle, I still expect him to turn his life around. I know I'm expecting too much. It's been almost forty years and he hasn't changed at all. Whatever happened in his life to mold him is deep inside him, and he's never shared it with me. We are close, but I never knew the dirty secrets he keeps to himself.

That's why I gift the key of Strength to him. If I could give him one thing, it would be the strength to make the hard decision to sober up. To face the troubles in life and grow from them. Gather the strength to make a better life for himself and those around him. Be the man that his father never was. Be a man that has the strength for others to lean on. Have the strength to make a mark in his family's life, a mark that is solid and from love.

I wore this Giving Key close to my heart. Touched every day. Thought of my baby brother and tried to pass my strength into every link of the chain. I finally kissed it as I took it off to wrap it and send it to him.

I love my brother forever, "ONE TIME"

-Shannon