Basketball and Brothers

Today was amazing!!  Tonight was faith night at the Nuggets game and my pastor had also partnered with them for a fundraiser.  On a side note, he is like the most amazing networker I have met.

The Nuggets were playing the Thunder, which is my team.  He got me some tickets, some absolutely amazing tickets!  They were 10 rows up from the court...10 ROWS!!!  I asked my "little brother", Antonio, to go with me.  There was only one condition, he had to cheer for OKC.  And he did, he even sported one of my Thunder t-shirts.

A little back story on Antonio.  I met him when he was a sophomore in high school, four years ago.  He was dating one of the girls who attended our teen program and I totally thought he was a punk.  After a few months, he attended our fall retreat and we hit it off.  We are both equally stubborn, competitive, and argumentative.  That weekend was probably the only time that I really won in those areas.  That weekend he adopted me as his big sister.

As time progressed I got to hear more and more of his story, the part that touched me the most...he's an only child and I'm the first person he ever considered a sibling.  Over the past four years we have bonded and continued to grow in our relationship.  He is protective, caring, genuine, and all around amazing!!  He also spent his senior year volunteering three nights a week to work with our elementary and middle school youth.  Which meant we spent tons of time together!  When he graduated in May, I cried through just about everything.  I didn't know it was possible to be so proud.

This fall he went off to college.  And while I am so proud of him, I was selfishly sad to see him go.  It was a huge adjustment this fall not having him there Monday-Wednesday night.  So when I found out he was coming back to do a semester at the campus in the city, my heart was so happy!

So tonight, was just like old times.  I love the time we get together, I love sharing common interests, like sports.  I love that we cheer for each others teams.  The best part of tonight...although we lost in an exhilarating OT...Antonio started to lose his voice with me.