Somewhere I Belong

Recently I decided to start listening to albums I haven't listened to in a couple years. One album really stood out to me when doing this, Meteora by Linkin Park. I actually used to hate Linkin Park when I was younger but the person involved in this story has a strong connection related to this band. Now, I have multiple friends in the military, one in particular (the one who got me hooked on Linkin Park) is the closest person I will have to an actual brother. My bro, Nicholas Smith, was born one day before me on the same year. We both have green/hazel eyes, blonde hair, and have too much in common to list on this blog without getting off topic. We met at our mutual friend, Aaron Dierdorffs, 16th birthday party at which Aaron and mines' band at the time, Kicking the Fall, played/jammed at for fun.

FREE CAKE!!!!

Later, Nick joined the Glendale High School drumline our Junior year and he was on second bass, I was on fourth. This made us work together for long periods of time as while that was my third year on bass so while his and mines' parts were in tandem, I also had to teach him how to play the drum in a way that a music judge at a competition would be proud of. During and after marching band we became great friends. We found out all of our common interests and it was like looking in a mirror. He would talk about his plans for the Army when he graduates, we would spend the night at each other's houses so we could continue to do weird and awesome crap 24/7, and since his birthday was one day before mine, we went to Disneyland for our birthday with my mother and our friend Adam (Adamantium). 

No one can derp like Gaston!

Over the summer we kept hanging out until Nick said he was dropping out of school. I don't remember every detail, I like to think I tried to convince him to stay in school, but he was focused on his girlfriend over anything else (which is like him because he is the type of guy who will do anything for those he cares about with little question). Either way, if I did or did not say anything, he can only take my opinion for what it's worth, I'm not his dad, and he is his own man who can make his own decisions. We still hung out, but while I was focused on school, he was with his girl, and we eventually barely saw each other. When we did hang out, it was always fun and I enjoyed every minute of it. Later on, Nick left his desire to join the military and focused solely on his relationship. 

Fast-forward about 4 months. I have graduated, Nick is still with his girlfriend. Everything started to fall apart for my friend and I always tried as hard as I can to support him. He eventually had a bad break up with his girlfriend and shortly after his mom kicked him out of where he lived. He had no where to go, and I was more than happy to take him in under my grandmas roof. He moved in and we started to jam in my garage, go out for strolls, do our own thing in our rooms like actual brothers and we kept referencing Step Brothers. In my moms car that I use to get around, our other friend we call Little Dude, burned Linkin Parks first 2 albums, Hybrid Theory and Meteora. We started jamming to these albums day and night, we listened to them religiously and one song stuck out to me, Nicks favorite track, #3 Somewhere I Belong. 

Later Nick left my place and moved to his Uncles in Alabama, got his GED, and re-joined the military. I still listened to Linkin Park after he left for quite awhile and going back to this brought back all of these awesome memories. My bro, went through a lot and I am very happy to have him in my life and I couldn't be happier that he's serving our country but more importantly, I couldn't be happier that he found Somewhere Where He Feels He Belongs.