I have been avoiding my blog for so long because I knew this was the next thing I needed to talk about. I guess writing it down will make it real, and I don't want it to be real. I want to wake up and tell Brian about my terrible dream and to never ride a dirt bike again. I met Brian just over 10 years ago, but I feel like I've known him my whole life, it was an instant friendship.
I first read about a missionary named Elder Buttars from Randy. He was so excited to have him as his companion and even more excited that they were distant relatives! I still don't know exactly how they are related... something like Randy's great grandfather and Brian's great grandfather were brothers. But it didn't matter- they thought of themselves as brothers. They loved and fought like brothers. During one of their fights Brian said, "I can't do anything right around here" and Randy never let him live that one down. Randy would say that they would be in a fight and Randy would want to stay mad but Brian would have this grin on his face or do something to try to make Randy laugh. Believe me, he made some funny faces... and he had the BEST smile ever! They served together for 4 months in the Olangapo, Philippines Mission and lived in the same apartment but with different companions for another 4 months. Brian was with Randy when I got mad at him and told him I wasn't going to write for a while... which Brian called my "dear John" letter. He said that Randy came out of the house and kicked a bucket of water so hard and it almost hit Brian. I'm going to miss that story.
After Brian got home from his mission, he set up a vacation with his family and some of his old missionary companions. Randy and I had just gotten married and were living in Utah. I think Brian felt bad taking Randy away from me right after we had gotten married so I was invited too. We hurried back from our Oklahoma reception and chose to go to Lake Powell for our honeymoon with the Buttars family, the McGregor and Simkins (neighbors & friends of the Buttars), and three other missionary companions. I know a lot of people thought I was crazy... but it was the best decision I ever made. This was when I first met Brian and his family and to this day it is one of my favorite memories and favorite vacation. We became instant friends and like I said earlier, I felt like I knew them my whole life.
November 30th, Randy called me from work. I started talking to him like I normally do and asked how he was doing... it took me a while to realize that he said "not good". I had to step back and ask what was wrong. He had just found out that Brian had passed away Saturday, November 28th. Brian was born for Utah and the mountains. He loved to mountain bike, ski, ride dirt bikes, all that fun stuff that Utah offers. He was out on his dirt bike and somehow got into an accident that basically killed him immediately. No one saw exactly what happened. We couldn't get to Utah fast enough... we needed to be there with our dear family the Buttars which now included Brian's wife Colette (who was two weeks away from having their 3rd child) Brian's son Cole(3),and his daughter Hallie(2).
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