If I\'d Only Known

7 Pages 1794 Words

If I’d Only Known

As the song “Somewhere Over the Rainbow” echoed through my head, I walked with my brother one last time. The only thing was, he was in the casket in front and my parents and I had to follow tearfully behind. As I looked around, I saw through tear-stained eyes all the hundred of lives my brother had touched. He filled our days with happiness and laughter and left behind so many wonderful stories and memories that will be cherished in my heart forever. At the young ages of just 19 years old, my brother Todd Harris and his friend Ryan Stephenson, had their dreams and aspirations vanish before them on an empty highway just a half an hour away from their home. At the age of 17, my life changed forever as I began to see life through different eyes. As I walked down that aisle, memories flooded my mind on how this awful day arrived.
It was September 12th and my brother and I were just sitting in his room talking about our plans for our weekend. We were always pretty close, but after our parents got a divorce, we became incredibly close. He became not just my brother, but my best friend. We did everything together. The problem was our idea of fun was not the safest way of fun. Our lifestyle consisted of parties, drugs, and alcohol. We saw nothing wrong with it. Everyone was doing it and we could handle it, especially my big brother.
So there we were, sitting at home making our regular plans to Mizzou. I normally would just drive with him, but for some reason I wanted to drive my own car. We decided to meet up after the game. However, once again the plans changed. I was tired and although I knew he would pay for my drinks, I decided to just go back to my friend’s house. If I’d only known that would have been the last night I would have seen my brother’s smiling face. If I would have only known that would have been the last time I would have been able to wrap my arms around him and say I...