From Trav

so, i've been visting the john braun page quite regularily since... yeah. i still hate saying it. i still hate thinking that i played guitar at his funeral. i hate that word. it's ugly. it's so final. i didn't even use it at all until becky asked me if i could play. anyways, that's not what this is supposed to be about. this is supposed to be about memories i have about one of the greatest men to ever grace this earth. i shared a few on my blog on my rememberance day post, and i'll likely over lap that a bit, just with more detail. one of my favorite memories was when i gave him his shirt. i remember how hard mike, uncle john, and i laughed. it was a riot. i'll explain. i had just gotten married about two weeks before this happened. on our honeymoon we headed out west and made our way up and down vancouver island. in our first couple days on the island some friends of ours decided to take us out to do some salmon fishing. well, i won't bore you all with the fish story, although i'm sure uncle john would make me tell it, but i caught a 48 lb chinook salmon. which is a very large fish. knowing full well that this was the biggest fish that anybody i knew had caught, the very first thing i did was grab my cell phone. steve barry, who was also a friend of uncle john's and the guy who had taken us fishing, moved the boat so i could get a cell signal for the call. i dialed uncle john's number before anyone else's, knowing that he would be thrilled and choked at the same time that i caught this monster. i believe that the conversation went something like this.

uncle john (J):hello
trav (t): hey uncle john
j: hey trav
t: so, i think you're gonna hate me.
j:why in the world would i ever hate you trav?
t: because i just caught a 48 lb salmon
j: you did not. you're lying. steve put you up to this, didn't he?
t:nope, no lie, it's huge, biggest thing i've ever seen
j:you're so full of crap trav (all the while laughing of course)
t: i wishi i was uncle john, that would be the best joke ever, but i'm serious!
j: seriously? 50 lbs? no... i don't believe you
t: i'm gonna make you a shirt of this (laughing ensues)
j: no way, you're just gonna photo shop something. there's no way you caught a fish that big. (more laughing)
t: just you wait.

and that was the jist of the converstation... i had a heck of a time totally convincing him that i had landed a monster salmon. so anyways, we went and did all the stuff with the fish that we needed to do, proceeded to walmart to get a couple of white tshirts and headed back to steve and kathy's where we then made tshirts. two of them. one of them for me, with just a picture of the fish and me, the other with the same picture but with a few words added. the words, "my nephew, my hero". well, two weeks later we headed out to martensville, made a stop at his house, i knocked on the door (wearing my shirt of course). i had his shirt hidden at the time. i believe mike answered the door, and was pretty floored when he saw the picture on my shirt. uncle john then quickly made his way to the living room and also was aghast. i believe he mentioned something about wanting a picture of it. at this time i pulled out his shirt. and he laughed so hard. we all did. but the best part? he put it on. and he beamed with pride. from ear to ear. and it made me feel great. and that's what he was all about. he got that from grampa braun. he loved to make other people feel great. and he did a great job of it.