My Brother (in-law), Russ

Russ has known me longer than I’ve known him. He knew me as a little girl because he and my sister Kathy became friends. They were in the same class and he was her best friend. Many years later, fate somehow brought Russ back into our lives when he and Sharon started dating. True soul mates had finally found each other. Russ and Sharon were married on Valentine’s Day, 1998. I’ve never known two people who fit together like “2-peas-in-a-pod” as much as these two do. He’s so much more than a brother-in-law to me. He’s my brother, my friend, my family.

I’ll never forget our first trip to the Campbell Family Farm. You see…us city-folk don’t get out to the country much. We were sitting on the front porch glider and every now and again a truck or car would drive by. Evidently, the proper way to acknowledge farm folk when they drive by is to gently nod and barely raise your hand up to wave. We learned this rather quickly when the first truck drove by and we were waving a bit like Forest Gump did when he was waving to Lt. Dan!! Russ quickly shot us a look and told us “Hey guys, stop that and act like you live here”. We laughed so hard. I was always exhausted after visiting the farm because we laughed so much while we were there.

Russ, do you remember the time we went for a ride on the 4-wheeler…in the dark? It had been raining early that night but it didn’t matter. We crossed the road, and took off riding really, really fast through that big field. It was really muddy and the next thing I knew we were stuck on a mound of wet ground…kind of like a teeter-totter. We were both laughing so hard (I’m certain I peed a little) and thinking how much trouble we were going to be in with “big sister, Shom” if we couldn’t get ourselves out of this one! We pushed & pulled and finally, we broke free. I had the time of my life that night. It was so much fun. Just one of many, many times we had fun together.

We’re not saying good-bye my friend, but instead, “until we meet again”. Because, we WILL meet again. You’re definitely my “brotha from anotha mutha”. We’ll take good care of “baby”. Be at peace my brother…I love you! Kelly Dennison Steece