See you later, Brandon

On Friday, July 8th, at about 2am, one of my very dear friends, Brandon Edwards, passed away in a car accident on highway 99 in my hometown of Modesto.  

Brandon was one of those people who got along with anybody he met and was just a source of laughter and joy.  Some of my best memories of high school include him in it.  

At Shannon and Stephen's wedding:

Amy, Brandon and Ash

Brandon holding his goddaughter, Ainsley

At Big Bryan's 30th birthday 

Brandon in true Brandon fashion

Nic, Anthony, Brandon, me and Cherish (1998)

I met Brandon my junior year of high school during theater class.  Of course, I don't believe Brandon was ever actually enrolled in our drama class, but I think he would just pop in and hang out with us because Nic was his best friend and in the theater class with me.  The first play we did was from the picture above, Horror High, and Brandon was able to be in the play because he was in the Drama Club with us.  He played a security guard and during his scene he would always run onto the stage, fumbling with his gun, then the gun would go sliding off the stage and Brandon would follow closely behind.  Then he would pop up from the ground and say, "I'm alright!"  

That year cemented our friendship and me, Nic, Amy and Brandon would hang out pretty much everyday and every weekend.  Nic and Brandon introduced us to the movie Tommy Boy.

Amy and I had never seen this movie but it was one of Nic and Brandon's favorites so they had us sit down and watch it and they would say all the lines before the actors would and they would laugh so hard at every part.  Amy and I couldn't help but laugh along with them because their laughter was so infectious.  There's one distinct part in the movie where Chris Farley is driving and the hood of the car flies up and there's a shot of his face looking around the hood to see a huge truck coming directly at him and his face changes from laughing to horror.  Brandon re-wound and watched those five seconds over and over and Amy and I were laughing so hard because of him.  

My parents would host a lot of BBQ's at our house those last few years of high school and beginning of college and Brandon was at a lot of them.  We all remember one time that him and Big Bryan were jumping on the trampoline and after like the third bounce Brandon went flying and Bryan just stayed in place.  I know we have it on video somewhere and I need to find it. 

Brandon also came to Vegas with us the year we all turned 21 and after re-watching that tape after Brandon's funeral it appears that he was the star of the trip.  He was making everyone laugh, he lost all his money less than halfway into the trip and spent the last $30 he had on cigars for himself and Kevin, lol.  

The funeral was a week later, July 15th, and it was up until the last minute that I didn't know if I was going to be able to make it or not, but luckily a friend at work picked up my shift so I could attend.  However, in order to make it work I had to leave at 4am on Friday, got into Modesto just in time and then had to face the infamous carmaggedon the next morning to make it back to Redondo.  However, it was more than worth it that I was able to pay my respects and say good-bye.

The service was very nice, though it was heartbreaking to see Brandon's brothers carrying his casket and seeing his poor mother.  At the cemetery Ashlie put a copy of Tommy Boy on his casket.  It is still hard for me to comprehend that he is truly gone.

There was a very nice reception afterwards and then we had some people come over to our house where we relived memories of Brandon and found some videos of him from past parties at our house.  

The infamous trampoline

Baby Emilie and Ash

Sandy, Bryan, Harjit, Martin, Kyler, me and Ash

It was nice to have a chance to remember Brandon and see the past videos of him and hear his voice and his laugh.  Also, since Sandy (Bryan's wife) hadn't met him she was able to sort of see the guy we had been talking about for so long through the videos.  

After watching the tapes and reminiscing, we realized that it is important for everyone to get together more often and we're planning on having a get-together in September at my parents house to make sure everyone stays connected and has fun together.  Unfortunately it took something as horrific as Brandon's death to make us wake up and realize that we can't take each other for granted and need to appreciate our friendships.  

I miss you Brandon.  But this isn't good-bye, it's see you later.