Someone Special...

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I wanted to share with you all a story about someone special I used to know... He grew up with an older brother and four little sisters. He loved them all. He did well in school but chose to work rather than burden his family with tuition fees for college. He became a volunteer fire fighter as soon as he was old enough. He would spend his last dime on gas to pick his love up from her college two hours away every weekend just for that little bit of extra time with her. He married her he summer after she graduated. That's when he officially became my brother in law but he'd been like a brother to me since the fist time we met...and he didn't "need" another little sister, he wanted it that way. He included me in things, he checked on me when my parents went out, he would be the one saying I could spend the night at their house when he knew my mom was being to hard on me. He said I could be anything and everything I wanted to be. On my 14th birthday, my sister took me to where he was working and he gave me a ride home in histruck. He said he loved driving truck because you could see so much more from up there. We all had dinner together that Thanksgiving. I remember I sat aross from him. My sister sa to his left and the teased each other through dinner by bumping elbows because he was left handed. Three days later I babysat their almost 7 month old baby for them. They brought home pizza. As I left he was sitting in his chair with his pizza in one hand and his baby boy nestled in his other arm... That Tuesday he had to come home from work on his lunch break. He stopped in to see my sister and check on the baby. Then he stopped to talk to his dad. Half an hour after he left his dad's there was a terrible crash less than a mile down the road. His dad was the first responder. His dad called us with the news. A tractor trailer had crossed the center line on a corner and hit him head. Why was he less than a mile down the road half an hour after leaving his dad's house? Because there ha been an elderly couple stranded with a flat tire and he stopped to help them. His vey last act on this earth was yet another act of kindness...he was never one to just drive by someone in need. It's been 14 years and the Tuesday after Thanksgiving always bothers me more than the actual date but this year I just wanted to remember that I once knew someone special.