Once he knew you it’s like this kid jumped out that’s you know full of sugar and everything and he was the life of the party oh they played hockey morning night all day every day all the time yeah even at that time I said oh boy
This kid just doesn’t get enough I think he only fell maybe four or five times and after that I couldn’t stop him he was gone after that and he didn’t stop we got in trouble or I did something wrong you knew he was going to tell him all so you probably got most
Improved too let’s going to the show Mom let’s going to the Big Show he wouldn’t pump my tires like that Gordo you check his driver’s license I don’t think it’s valid in [Applause] Alberta no dice no dice well you might want to turn off your camera and when my
Dad was nice he’d get us pizza and he’d still take an hour and a half lunch and everybody would just love him like everybody be hey Brandon like you know his work ethic was the biggest thing and it never changed you never hear anyone say anything bad about the guy that’s
The biggest part I never want to lose friends that’s one thing I instill in Brandon is remember your Roots small little town compact tin can get from one point to the other point within not even 5 minutes a community that’s very small and everyone knows each other it’s where I come from I like uh I don’t like the big city that’s the best way I could describe it
I think it was nice raising the kids in a small town cuz I was originally from one there was in a lot of places the kids could get into trouble um there the schooling was there and yeah and the hockey which was a big
Part of our lives it’s a little bit of a special place in my heart obviously growing up there I loved it and special place that I always Remember when I come home I think obviously lived here with my brother for the past uh four four years some somewhere along those lines um he moved out he got a job out here so I thought to myself that’s my opportunity to move away from home and live with my brother
So I ended up doing that and little do I know I’m still here but uh no I come home and I don’t come home for long but when I do I try to um see everyone obviously tither every day um my parents here and there um I like
To catch up with friends hang out with the nephew and the family and um it’s short but it’s sweet and we try to golf uh here and there I mean um a few years back we used to play inline together so play inline hockey twice a week or
Whatever it was and not a not a ton of activities I guess not much to do here gol you guys will see over the next four days he was a mama’s boy and I will say I’m very proud of that but yes he is a
Mama’s boy he’s yeah he was stuck to me like glue but yeah in my emotional yeah he was very quiet he was my hardest one to get out of bed into his own bed cuz he just didn’t want to leave Mom’s side and I’m going to embarrass him on that because I was
Very proud mom about that because he yeah he was but yeah he was my emotional one yeah compared to the other two she was high strung this one she would tell you how it is and that one he’d just keep it in and get a little angry but
This one he just get emotional my motion one we got in trouble or I did something wrong you knew he was going to tell him all at that point you’re just like well have to sacrifice this one but no he was otherwise I would say like super
Good good kid anyways on top of that he’s a very popular kid too back in school everybody always looked up to him I feel like they he was just a guy that go to school and everybody would just love him like every be hey Brandon like
You know and then I’d always be like oh you’re Brandon hegel’s sister oh you’re Tyler hegel’s sister like they were just like they were just all around kids in the school and stuff like that too Brandon was always quiet around me you know and then you get once he knew you
He was quiet around anyone once he knew you it’s like this kid jumped out that’s you know full of sugar and everything and he was the life of the party and you know and I seen that a few times around I said holy where did this come from
Yeah it was kind of hectic obviously I think we are all kind of into sports even my sister and obviously my older brother it was one of those things where you kind of came home and something was going on whether it was my BR brother having practice or me having practice or
My sister having something um whatever sport she was in at the time played all sports and then just battled against each other I guess you could see blocked bird out of the house I guess yeah we call Chelsea bird I guess is her nickname I’m sure either yeah what do
You mean you locked her out the house I don’t know yeah I got a lot of phone calls or some kid showing up at work saying mom Tyler locked me out of the house Brandon Brandon always had his friends over so like every time his friends were over it’s just like I was
Like they were always on me or something and then Tyler jump in and be like think he’s the top guy and then it just be like all of us just yeah there a Rowdy household we ate out Lots but when we cooked at home it was never at the right
Time I think it was was like you just come home and there would be food and just eat when you want you know because the schedules are so busy and stuff like that but so if you ate out a lot what was the spot where were you going rink basically rink yeah
Poutin yeah that was kind of the thing in more prou poutine and vanilla milk to go and I was I was good for the night to say the least it was always hectic but it was fun and uh we had our times at night where we got to be able to hang
Out with each other whenever got home and little things like that but I’d say during the day it was always uh one parent was with either two kids and the other was with one and it just kind of flip-flopped here and there but uh uh the best word to probably describe it
Was hectic he played a lot of school sports basketball he played volleyball any kind of school sport um they also played soccer and they played ball baseball I put him in ball I coached him two years um and he was playing with my older boy he was 8 years old um my
Oldest boy was eight Brandon was five and oh you can’t play you can’t play he was my best hitter on the team and he was small of course very small um and we never lost the game and we won won it two years in a row and that’s with that
Town as well cuz it was so small that you you could do anything they accommodated all the kids to be able to try as many sports as they possibly could so we we were living in a kind of a duplex place and there was a whole basement and um they had mini sticks
From one end to the other oh we played like big big sticks too it was wild we huge games like sticks way too big for us like slashing each other was insane honestly thinking back about it now yeah we had a few eye spots I think Brandon
Came in with a bloody eye cuz he was in the back they were playing outside in the back in the back on the back alley and all all I could hear was I’m like oh no and Brandon come blood gushing down his face cuz he gotten hit by one of the Walky sticks
And he just got cleaned up and he went back out there again so yeah Chelsea kind of stood on the sidelines and just kind of she was kind of the ref but really didn’t get much say in the matters so she just kind of watched yeah they played hockey morning
Night all day every day all the time mourville was a very big hockey Town winter hockey and then we went roller hockey and we went to California was our very first trip ever and we went down there and they both played in roller hockey down there and Chelsea just
Followed right behind she was great she really supported her brothers with everything they did um she did play basketball but she really supported her brothers she loves oh loved getting dragged everywhere but she was she was a good sport about it is what she really well she just couldn’t
Pick a sport so we took her I think got one one point we went to roller derby that lasted like a month he was always a jokester that’s one thing about Brandon he was a good jokester he knows how to make people laugh he still is like that he has his
Comebacks that he knows how to come back at you that’s for sure we were always joking and stuff and Brandon just like he’s like sitting on the like he was just sitting on the toilet he had his clothes and sitting on have you ever heard that sitting on the toilet sitting on the
Toil and flush I wish we had that video but yeah sorry I had to embarrass you I we’re talking about it inside actually I think the first time I put him on Skates um with his older brother Tyler he was already 3 years older than so he he’s he
Was able to skate so putting Brandon into a pair of skates and taking them out there and you know you have to hold them and he he just didn’t want that he says I want to go M and I said well you know so I think if I could remember I
Think he only fell maybe four five times and after that I couldn’t stop him he was gone after that and he didn’t stop at 4: he was you know he was stopping on the side he was he was he was skating backwards good he was doing crossovers
He was doing it all like we had a in St Albert we had an outdoor Rank and uh he’d go out there every night I’d take him out there every night and that’s when he’d play with the big kids and he’d take the puck and yeah I remember
That particular time he was probably for um you know when he um going out to the outdoor rank all the time in St Albert that’s where we lived originally and that was you know every night every night every night and you know not 1 Hour 2 3 hours so yeah he
Just um yeah even at that time I said oh boy like this kid just doesn’t get enough like he is today he just goes and goes so he didn’t want to give up parents will tell you I never tried to live my dream through Brandon um was he born with a hockey
Stick oh yeah um but I wasn’t I was just going to give him the opportunity and money wasn’t an issue um so he always picked oy I knew he was good enough kid I wasn’t worri about trouble or anything but safety um you’re you’re six days a week
In Fort sukatan and sometimes the ranks were 15 minutes past there so we didn’t want him driving back to morville uh the extra 35 minutes with snow and everything it just didn’t make sense uh but yet uh he could build it there but yet if you know he was getting homesick
Uh he could come home that night or something so it worked out really well it was the best decision we made probably back then to give him the opportunity to play AAA hockey cuz that’s where he had to be this is my uh childhood enemy Brett debuk now best
Friend and uh roommate you could say we’re at uh the rank I haven’t been back in about 5 Years and we’re going to go inside and check it out any of my names on here maybe got names on here maybe right here Brandon hle right there it’s
We’re on the sides we’re on the so right there and right here lead score most valuable player of major Triple A you probably got most improved too yeah that was the year that we played together and uh where we really became best friends that was the start
Of it really from enemies to best friends it was nice to finally play with him to be honest yeah when I was in mourville younger um we probably would have been 12 then maybe around that age all our little minor hockey years it was us against uh him and another guy and it
Was always uh never fun played the Rivalry both little guys too both skilled guys on each team and hated each other at at one point you like the Competitive Edge but and then then when you start to play with a guy like that right it’s easy to get along he was
Obviously year older than me and I was younger uh coming in uh they were usually pretty good here when I was I was young so it was always uh Brett the guy you were chasing um finally got to play together and and then he hit a
Gross spurt and I didn’t and I was chasing him after that he would do whatever it took to win to loved that Competitive Edge on him it was good to finally get him on our team to be honest should have made the move to Fort earlier man they renovated this even too
Like man all that paint’s new I mean everyone loved to watch hockey so uh they have a junior B Team here and uh when you would come watch this is kind of where you would uh grab some food candy bags and um go home and stay up
Till 3:00 in the morning pretty much our Friday night routines where we’d always skate in Gibbons we’d have a practice just an easy one on Friday and we always come here watch the junior bees get ptin and jerky and we’d always sit in the far corner and cause a little bit of Havoc
Yeah this was kind of it hasn’t changed much except now they got mini Donuts that would have been nice back then this was kind of just all the teams get a certain amount as you see it says U6 U 18 u5 so yeah that’s where we’ keep
Like all our soof tape stick tape Jers would probably go in the other one yeah yeah I think you get like two a team probably yeah and then our coaches would get that room too I don’t know if it’s open or not take a look this is where no but that’s
Where you’d go to have a one-on-one meeting with the coach and let you know what you did wrong and here was our main uh main dressing room this was it nothing special we uh this is where we spent majority of our time it was just every everybody was
Kind of on the same page Bo like this is like one of our funnest years of like of hockey we had a really good coach brought us all together and like we all kind of had our spots like we all sat in the same spot every year it was a really
Good team like everybody just bonded really well yeah I think he hit it on the nose I think if you go down our uh a roster from that year was probably one of the best years we’ve ever had um I’m really good buddies with majority of
Them we hang out with them every summer um obviously um the coach at that time was probably one of the best coaches that majority of those players had on their team it was a really fun year and I’ll remember that year for probably the rest
Of my life as we go along with this you’ll realize uh a lot of my best friends are usually a year older so um that’s just kind of the way it was and um it was easy to look up to a lot of these guys especially I mean you look
Now at uh the people I played with from from the years being here they’re really successful in what they do and their jobs and passionate about what they do so I think I had a good crew to to look up to yeah this was it I can still
Remember to this day some some moments and and times and when you come back in this rank you just pops in your head about uh the people you played with uh the games you had and the hard times I guess you could say all the triy outs
When you were a little kid and all the nerves and um little things like that I think it was uh all those come back uh in here and you remember those memories too of your parents driving from from mourville with them when you’re when I was younger playing here and um the
Dedication that they kind of put into to My Life as a hockey player you could say you couldn’t do it in warville which would have been the easy route for them they had to drive the 40 minutes down the road to drop me off late at night practice drive home school night wasn’t
Easy getting me up but uh they definitely put a lot of time and effort into um I guess making my dreams come true now his best part about his game is his work ethic and it’s one thing that’s never changed from when he was younger like he’s just always going into the corners
Being the smaller guy too always coming up with the puck it’s one thing that we we always talked about when we were younger too like that was what was going to get us noticed you know when you’re not the biggest guy out there you got to
Do things that are going to get you noticed and his work ethic was the biggest thing and it never changed from from midgets to to today obviously have a good Supporting Cast and just knowing that your your friends do pay attention and it’s nice to come home and have
Those buddies that kind of like he said lived through you a little bit like he knews exactly everything that goes on you don’t always want to sit there and explain so it’s nice to have a buddy just to kind of talk about stuff here and there and um he knows exactly what
I’m talking about at uh at points um instead of just talking to a to a blank wall or feel like that anyways and that’s one thing that we love about him it doesn’t he doesn’t act like he’s above anybody he acts like the same old guy and it’s easy to have conversations
With him even even after you don’t see him for a while it’s not hard to spark up a conversation I have one story here actually it was funny my uh my dad said uh something along the lines that if we win this game or do something he’ll
Um or if we raised enough money for uh some charity um he would sing O Canada um in front of everyone um before the game and we ended up hitting that goal and he had to had to do it I’m sure there’s video out there somewhere we
Could find but it was uh was comedy he dressed up and embarrassed me a little but um I think he embarrassed himself a little bit more it was just hard because you know you have all your three kids and they’re there all the time and not
Being able to see them every day and not being able to talk to him and you know you’d phone but and not know where he is or what he’s doing but he had a great bill in Fort Saskatchewan and they were amazing they were really good with him
And I knew he was in good hands I said I think that was what made it a little easier on me is that he was in good hands moving in there I was close to home so I was able to go sleep at home if I really wanted to my parents were
Only 30 40 minutes away um I just got used to the fact that I was living with a different family and if I wanted my career to move on and go play Junior somewhere I knew that was going to be the case the doorbells are very good
People I knew them I you know and Brandon was you know to this day they’re they’re very good friends and they treated him very like their own we’re at uh my Billet family um uh they were nice enough to take me in when I played hockey down in Fort Saskatchewan
Obviously this is uh one of my best friends to this day um Dylan I guess you could say he was a Billet brother back in the day we met casually through friends and we were kind of trying out for the same team and he was nice enough
To ask his parents if I was able to stay with him and um spend the year with them and um they’re nice enough to take me in and showed me the ropes around this area you could say brownon made it all a lot more fun always got up to no good
And pretty much did everything together went to school together so yeah know it was good times it’s obviously nice and chilly down here whether it was us having drinks or um hanging out watching a movie it was a good little spot for um especially at our age I guess to just
Hang out play video games Dylan how can this work like how can Brandon stay here and then D Brandon didn’t have his driver’s license at that point I’m like how is he going to get to games like no we figured out he can he just needs to
Stay here Mom he’ll it’s okay and I’m like okay so that’s how we ended up Brandon staying and I like him he’s kind of a nice guy and so I thought okay I guess what’s one more kid in the house I think it was my first time living away
From home as well and obviously um having Dylan as my best friend it was kind of we did everything together anyways it’s close to the garage door so easy to sneak down to all of our friends were kind of one big group so we always had a ton of friends
Whether Dylan wasn’t home I was hanging out with Tyler and picking on Jaden to say the least most of the time yeah we used to have carpet down here so then it was mini sticks and then we got the pool table we got the hard WEA laminate yeah
They had to put something here to stop from the walls getting all banged up from the mini sticks most of the time we had friends over and uh doing something in the basement or going to do what we do as kids and run around and drive
Around and go hang out at places so yeah everyone was just getting their drivers everyone got their dri like the thing to like want to go for a drive let’s go for a drive and just go waste gas he just fit in like with one of the like just
Like one of the kids you know honestly lots of laughs on four 10 of us oh yeah five on five full contact definitely not big of big enough for it but we would do it like we were’t like 20 at the time this is in high school probably were a little too old
For definely still old bending curvs go to the oven make your curve yeah yeah I think everybody knew the code to the house at one point it’s probably still the same still the same you remember the no I don’t but I’m drunk i’ FR what do you think about
It like me and Brandon shared the same bathroom in between and then in between that was my parents bedroom chair so so I could hear someone have must have had an upset stomach in the bathroom I could hear them just getting sick in there and so I
Knock on the door and I’m like I’m thinking it’s Dylan I’m like Dylan Dylan are you okay and and the response was yep yep no I’m okay wasn’t Dylan came up to me the night or the day after and she’s like are you okay like that sounded rough last night and I was
Like what are you talking about Dylan was probably his biggest Advocate because he was like he’s going to the show mom he’s going to the Big Show Dylan always said that about you Brandon I don’t know if you knew that but Dylan always had your uh always thought you were he wouldn’t pump
My tires like that he did honestly and I’m like Dylan you know how many kids think they’re going to go to the NHL like everybody thinks they are and he’s like no Mom he’s going to go to the Big Show and I’m like well he was right
Obviously probably just I don’t know his attitude he like walked into the room got along with everyone like you never hear anyone say anything bad about the guy and then on top of that he was just always getting better in hockey they message back and forth to each other the
Whole family has a group chat got going on about this and that what Brandon’s done in his game and it’s pretty cool you don’t hear about it too often I don’t think Dill is going to say oh they messag in the group chat that family been talking about you day
Like that so it’s good to know that uh people are still watching you and your people care that much to pay attention to you and I think that’s big reason for why I try to keep in touch with everyone and I mean I probably left this house
They probably would have never had that flag hanging up if I never spoke to them again and um but they’re a big part of my life and um Dylan’s been one of my best friends ever since we we met each other so it’s surreal to be
Honest for myself when I come back I try to put an out an effort to get everyone together and hang out whether it only be a few times or pop my head in once or see you a couple times I think that’s the biggest part I never want to lose
Friends relationships I’ve had um growing up because that kind of taught me who I am today and I had to go through these parts of life so I don’t want to throw anyone out the window people’s helped me so much down the road
To get to me where I am I mean as much as I was only here for not even a year maybe a year I think still a part of how I grew up and the people I met and surrounded myself with so um you never want to forget about those people and
You always want to keep in touch as much as you can even though um it may not be much I just always try to make an effort I think it was huge I think it just got me ready for the next step in a way um at the time I probably didn’t
Realize that but it was a huge impact and a huge help to my career and at the same time get used to kind of spending every day with another family and not being around your parents so I think you can kind of focus on the hockey aspect
So I think that was a a really really big part of my life I’d still see him three four five six times a week for me it was always are you okay is everything good you need to tell me are you happy are you feeling good um that was
Important actually salsburg is like in the Farmingdale area that’s where we went to church and that’s where we started our business that’s where Brett was you might say born in 1953 if you see a beautiful Field of Corn you’re going to ask why we ought to check the
Guest book of records because I’m sure there would be another brother and sister operation that would have lasted for 67 years I say without you know killing one another that was our goal to to better the life of our customers yeah dude that’s probably the play to
Hit off here no off the off the grass yeah absolutely Gordo was no faith over my distance is putting that guy right there yeah he’s the toast good ball light work just giving the queen queen pick guys something to look for over there it’s a big stick time oh that
Thing will just hit them in the head that was a bit chunky no a tad pressure builds time and so right y so we’re at the Cardiff golf course I’m with h Jackson tullk Tyler D winka two of my childhood best friends uh guys I spend pretty much every day with we
Were just the three best friends and all had the opportunity to work out here at a young age and it was kind of our first job working out in Cardiff it was a ton of fun the free golf was definitely a huge purse we definitely utilize that maybe these
Guys more than me yeah I mean at 13 years old we couldn’t drive into anything so you get dropped off at 6:00 a.m. for your shift worked till 2:00 and golfed till your parents were off work so it was pretty ideal have you golfed much since you’ve been back here uh not
Bad actually probably like 10 10 12 times at the diff uh oh at Cardiff no not at the diff dude Jackson had a more fun job cutting the grass and sitting in something with me and as we picking on balls on Tuesdays we are the labor force
Of the of the course we were we were out here picking balls with our hands every Tuesday washing the carts but definitely no riding on a mower for 4 hours every night but did the trick you guys got to stay C I played in this scramble last
Year how’ it go it was fun we didn’t we kind of choked at the end but who was your partner it was me DI Chad and this chance guy Four Guys four guys yeah best ball scores are low there’s a ton of fun though you go every hole but the problem
Is you go to bed at 4:00 a.m. yeah but that’s the best part 100% yeah we stayed clean but at the same time we were uh cleaning people’s clubs and cleaning people’s mess out of carts I leave the mess in the cart to this day so um but I
Did the job so I feel like I I have the ability to do that you’re in it do you remember stanky which stanky the old member the who John Stanky no I don’t know I’d have to see him to probably know it was me a driver from that tournament why
Bet him driver for driver he had a nice one you’re like got the TSI that’s funny who’s an old Riner we didn’t have our license yet so it was that was the best thing like when someone told you to go start picking balls I mean you’re 14 years old picking
Up picking up golf balls in a in a truck with a thing on the front I mean that’s the I mean which 14-year-old kid wouldn’t 15-year-old kid whatever age it was wouldn’t wouldn’t be exed for that so that I I guess you could say that was
Probably the the best part of the job same for the cart well that might get right on him that might be on the roof can we cook some balls at this guy heel come up uh nice and close you’re ready to roll all right I
Think so I think I can figure it out Gordo you check his driver’s license I don’t think it’s valid in Alberta you wen’t able to drive so getting the opportunity to pick pick up golf balls it was just fun I think uh you remember as a kid going to the driving range and
The truck was out there and as a kid you always wanted to hit it I was going to wait for him to get a little closer I don’t want to put him in the ditch for Gordo and his gang oh pretty special uh pretty fun it
Was a cool first job um and now I love to golf to this day so definitely probably helped me get into the sport a little bit more no dice no dice you got to come closer I’m not that good at 14 years old not many people have jobs but I was lucky
Enough for them to uh allow that to happen and now to this day they still keep younger local kids working at the golf course which is cool to see come back and just brings back memories of working and little things like that you already told them to pick up more so you
Guys can go home early that might be good G you’re going to have to grab me some Prov v1s these just aren’t flying right he’s turning the wrong way he’s dodging him at this point but it was hard because you worked with your best friend and obviously he
Wanted to do this job but I did too so we’d get in battles here and there it was a race to the truck sometimes but it was all fun and game get over it the next day or at least you had the excuse to say that it was his turn he’s making
It easy I like it last one let’s hope for the best give a thumbs up perfect energetic always always a nice kid that’s I’d say probably the biggest thing reason we’ve been friends for so long is he’s always caring always been there for me Jackson I’ve always been there for him wasn’t
Too much time we were sitting on the couch it was always uh positive attitude and whether we were playing sports or going to the mall always a ton of fun to be had since I moved away from home I think obviously I think I said this
About a lot of people but it’s uh it’s tough to see people it’s tough to hang around when you’re only here for a couple months and um credit to these guys they’ve stuck by my side the whole way they still send me messages they understand the life and a little bit of
What it’s about that I’m not able to always uh do something but to have these guys uh stay by my side even though contact isn’t always there as as we spent every single day together yeah he definitely liked picking on his brother that’s I’d say the biggest thing most stories I have
Are him picking on Tyler if it was chipping balls at him while he’s cutting the grass or really anything yeah I mean we had her battles but uh when I had another buddy around it was kind of uh he picked on me when I was solo so I thought I’d get him
Back when I was with a friend so we could laugh about it and get along but uh as soon as di or Jacko left I was uh probably getting it that night some way or the other well we used to hit balls from the backyard to the sergeon county
Building for fun no idea why I just hitting golf balls at a at a building and uh I remember specifically chips one hits H or Tyler story right in the side of the head oh right in the side of the head I’ve never seen someone stop what they’re doing and start chasing someone
So fast I was just standing on the edge of the driveway watching these two Chase each other around for probably good half an hour some murderous yeah I guess that was it I didn’t go in the lawn I guess I I hit him in the head it wasn’t hard so
It was light just a surprise yeah just a surprise yeah been together since grade one so I think it’s one of those things that you never forget your childhood best friends you may not be as close as you were but you always want to keep in touch because it does bring back those
Memories and the mville memories that uh I spent 15 in of my years there can you tell us how he was as an employee what he did well you might want to turn off your camera no that’s all good uh about five years ago um I you
Know I know what hockey does uh it takes up a lot of time and a lot of these kids can’t make money so I always took in I took in my son obviously and he could still do his workouts around work so he’d come in at 9:00 and leave at two if
He had a skate or whatever and I took on a few guys like that so Brandon just he you know um they just came in and and they did whatever I asked them and they were really good um they’re very committed as they’re committed in hockey
And yeah they were good guys too bad they’re still not here Brandon had no job and every time he’s coming to me and it’s money money money I said well you know cuz I was running the place and stuff so and I just decided you know these hockey players they’re dedicated
Guys they need money their parents are shelling out enough but they need to do their workouts to keep their careers going so I think at one time between junior a and WHL I had six or seven guys um working there that would come and go at any times I mean Brandon would skate
Here or they do their workouts in the morning come at 11: and they’d be able to get 3 four 5 hours a day and it would would all work out and they’d have their spending or fund money or golf money or whatever yeah I kind of worked in the
Back I mean I didn’t see uh Dad too often uh to say the least he was inside but uh I worked in the back I worked with uh bunch of good dudes and uh guys that I still talk to to this day um that my dad obviously knows and they moved on
To different things as well but uh it’s kind of worked in the back uh I drove truck a few times um helped around on the for Clift here and there if if they needed me but uh um sometimes we got the brutal jobs but uh we were also leaving
At 1:00 or twoo so had to accept it when I wasn’t watching there’s probably a few things that I probably wouldn’t accepted but you know what they were they were good kids and they they they did a good job I mean they never rolled anything or
Anything and um you could always rely on them that was you know their dedication was was there and they’d show up on time and and always let you know so he he he was good they were all good Brandon even since he was you know five or six I was
In this industry I used to take him to the warehouse and give him rides on forklifts and they’ve always been you know around a forklift or riding a forklift or something anyways he’s had a huge impact in my career he’s uh helped me in so many different ways obviously
He was hard on me and he wanted the best to come out of me but uh I wouldn’t I wouldn’t change it for the world maybe at that time I thought he was uh being a little rude but I think it turned me into the person I am today and taught me
A lot of lessons about you can’t really work unless someone’s going to work around your schedule and um that’s important I mean for these all these guys are trying to live their dream a few things of this stuff would have been here like I guess if you could see like
These bands here um there was a little machine that we had to take around and tighten these up so they didn’t fall apart or um a lot of wrapping to say the least yeah they do a lot of the packaging a lot of the packaging would
Happen and then they load their on the trucks and then I’d put them on the truck and they’d go to job sites and unload and whether was U you know TI exciting whatever we would deliver drywall so it would be like um I don’t know how much it would weigh 100 and
More than that 200y 200 20 lb and you’d put it one hand here and let it lean on you and there would be a person behind and you’d kind of just walk and drop it off and go back to the truck and kind of do it again or slide it through windows
So sometimes you had to be creative of uh what window you could take out of the building to get things in but uh it was fun I had one of my best friends uh doing it with me so um we made it as fun as we possibly could and it’s funny when
They take the truck sometimes they were a little later coming back you know whether they did a slurpie drop or tour an area but ah it was all good you could always rely on them yeah that’s exactly what I would do right here there was like these things that stood really tall
And they were stacked way too many high and they all crumbled down and probably thousands and thousands of them and our job was like grab a pallet so I guess I square one of these and um stack them on top of each other wrap them for like
Months it was the worst that was their first job yeah there were rolls there were Roofing rolls about 80 lbs a roll and they were stacked about 10 high shouldn’t have been stacked about 3 we come in one morning and there’s 300 pallets on the ground that need to be
Restacked so I think I had three of them on that for about a month fulltime they were ready to quit but they did it they toughed it out and yeah it wasn’t it wasn’t fun I probably even paid him a little bit of bonus for that but you
Look back at it now and it was kind of a teaching point in your life as well like you can’t just you got to put in the work whether you like the work or not um at that age I don’t think the work that I was doing was something I wanted to do
For the rest of my life or I love love doing but he was like a boss he wasn’t like a dad when I was at work it was uh I had to let him know if I had to leave early I had to let him know just that’s
What it comes with and it taught me a lot and uh I can’t thank him enough but uh also he was hard on you so um sometimes scary um but looking back at it now it was a good thing he just wanted us to do it the right way and
That’s kind of how he lived and um how he is till this day so I just go over there and P pick up a pallet of shingles your forks are very long so only go in about three quarters or you wreck the ones in behind it okay okay anything
Damaged you’re paying for yeah all right sounds Good he did really good it was a little dicey there I don’t know no he did good he did really good that was probably the best part of the job um you just got to sit around ride a forklift but uh there was definitely some hard Parts but when they
Said grab the for Cliff and go do this it was probably the best part of your day he would always bring us out when we were younger cuz he’s been in the industry for pretty well his whole life so he’d bring us out right on the for
Clift and um as a young kid that was always something pretty cool and then when I started working with him I could finally drive it myself so I think it was a cool little experience and uh something that kind of follows with me
And if I ever see one I always say oh I used to do that back in the day this is Jamar he was uh when I worked with my dad he was there with me so uh we went through all the hard times together oh unpacking drywall
And um I mean he’s definitely way better on the forklift than I am but um I tried my best sled off sometimes yeah what do you mean by that uh long lunch breaks long lunch breaks you know EO or Subway yeah cuz it was just right down the
Block right right down the block right around the corner so it was usually Subway or EO or Don a a lot of time I guess and when my dad was nice he’d get us pizza and he’d still take an hour and a half lunch well there was always one day we
Did uh I think what was it inventory oh yeah and it was just we had to go pretty much count everything in the that you took like three day I think it was three days usually went on the weekend sometimes we had to count everything and
We were off by a lot sometimes after six counts you were still off couldn’t know how to count so that’s when I tell them take your socks off use your fingers and your toes this needs to stop get the same number when we mess up obviously there’s
Consequences just like in life to make mistake I mean you can’t deal with the consequences you’re probably not going anywhere so um I think that’s a little bit where I get myself from too I think um if you’re not going out there giving 100% then uh what’s the point I mean um
Obviously there’s going to be mistakes it’s uh things happen but uh they always come with consequences and um you just got to deal with them it’s only going to make you a better person our family’s been unbelievably close um I think I’ve mentioned uh before that uh my dad’s second third
Cousins uh he’s really close with I called him my uncles so it’s kind of been a thing where your family’s always been so close whether we’re always going to the grandparents or we go to this grandparents for Christmas and then over there the next day so we’ve always been
Really really tight as a family um lived in a small town U we were never separated always together and when my sister got pregnant it was probably not the best scenario she was uh young I think a lot of people doubted and a lot of people thought differently but as a
Family we kind of came together you almost feel like a like a dad in a sense and in a situation like that kind of my sister hasn’t had it easy all the time and having a baby at a really young age I think just to have him and be there
And now she’s one hell of a mother and creating a happy family and now has a little little daughter as well so my brothers have been there for me through everything the situation was very hard and both of them stepped up Brandon was out in Tampa and Chicago and you know
He’s still still to the state he facetimes me and he always you know shows that I got Tai here so you know that’s awesome to have but he’s just both of them I I honestly don’t think I would have been able to do it without either of them going to be the best
Uncle I can possibly be help my sister out whenever I possibly can and try to help her and guide her and give him a little bit of a father figure and help her kind of become the best mother she could possibly be and she’s turned into
One heck of a mother I think I’ve said it before but um super proud of her and happy that uh she is where she is today I wish I could explain the change she’s had in her life from who she was at 19 to who she is today is uh pretty special
Just that like male figure for Hudson as well it’s just teaching him how to fight right he tries to drop the M when he goes to public scooting now yeah on Brandon he has a saying on his chest and it says always in my heart
Because I can’t be at every game that my kids were always at I’d always say Where am I and they always said always in my heart you hear it all the time like let your kid live his dream you’re only young once whether that’s hockey soccer um academic
Let them do let them live and it don’t run their life um let them run it and just be a good parent for me I always wanted to remember where I came from I think it’s a huge part of my life whether I know that or not in some
Aspects I think where I came from the people that I met along the way I may not be as close with them as I am today but I always remember because they’re a big part of my life it doesn’t matter that I’m I’m doing what I’m doing I’ve
Been hanging out with you and knowing you since I was a little kid and grew up with you so I want that to always stay with me and I won’t forget that that’s one thing I instilled in Brandon is remember your roots guys how often do you get FaceTime calls oh I get them like during work I’m like talking with like took out a new job and I’m like oh I got a phone call coming in I’m in a meeting or something I look I’m like oh Hudson’s calling me
Do you not know I’m have work right now yeah and he’ll call back again yeah the one time he I don’t know what happened but I he wanted to call me on it I think it was like the first day he has like his little games phon so
It’ll come up as like a hot mail because he doesn’t actually have number so I’m like I got to go someone someone was calling me that I needed I knew their call was coming and I had to call and he called me probably 35 times straight I’m
Like trying to talk like hang me off like I and he got mad M actually because Uncle Brandon wasn’t answering the phone he looked at his mom and said Uncle Brandon’s not answering me just grab one of these and there you are slurpie what’s the process of
Selection uh it all kind of depends but I’m actually a huge Sprite guy but you can never go wrong with Pepsi so I would always uh add the pepsy at the top to say least would you be riding your bike like how oh yeah grab it bike there
You go if it fell off it fell off you move move on
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