“Dear Friend, consider this our introduction. I wish we didn’t have to meet this way. But now, I want to tell you everything. In fact… I feel I need to.”

“Dear Friend, family is like a piece of music. And life is sometimes like a storm. At least for us it has been. I’ve built my life on such things.”

“Dear Friend, Ruth Andrews is a song. Keith Andrews is a storm. And my brother and I took pieces from both of them.”

“Dear Friend, baseball is not only one of the pillars of Johnny and I’s relationship or the conduit through which so much of our Gospel was built. Baseball, of all things, is an instrument. An instrument that will help play the songs of my story.”

“Dear Friend, these lessons and more would go on from one year to the next. And so too would baseball. Over time, Johnny and I would both make a name for ourselves in our small town of Jefferson. Sometimes for the same reasons. Sometimes for entirely different ones.”

“Dear Friend, the rhythm in Jefferson was about to change a little. Remember, what we’re really talking about here is making choices. Every choice has a consequence.”

“Dear Friend, here comes storm number three. Johnny was about to talk right into it.”

“Dear Friend, this is where their storm really began. Unfortunately, it’s not where it would end. Johnny would soon be rebranded once more. This time, far beneath the skin.”

“Dear Friend, Johnny and I were both looking for angels to save us. My brother believed he would find his in a new fight, a fight for his family and for his Country. As for me? I had no idea where I might find mine.”

“Dear Friend, big things were happening. And the greatest of all was love.”

“Dear Friend, I have to tell you about the first time I met Maddie’s parents. You might get a real kick out of this!”

“Dear Friend, I would hope and pray every day Johnny was away that we would have the opportunity to share a moment like that together again someday. That, as brothers, we would always walk together and never alone.”

“Dear Friend, none of us knew how to be there for Johnny when he came back to us. We didn’t intend for it to be that way of course, but again, there was no roadmap for us to follow. Too often, only silence.”

“Dear Friend, that is the lasting image I have of Ashley Underwood. I never saw her in person again.”

“Dear Friend, things really did get better for a while there. And Maddie and I were about to see a whole new dream come true. So much hope and so much promise.”

“Dear Friend, little did I know, we would soon end up worlds apart again. This time, possibly for good.”

“Dear Friend, by the fall of 2016, my brother was on a collision course with a storm all his own making. A tornado of absolute torment. It was a storm unlike any I had ever seen or experienced. Unlike any I could have ever imagined. This was a storm I never saw coming.”

“Dear Friend, all that was left in the wake of his actions was darkness. Darkness was everywhere. I wanted no part of that darkness. I wanted to remove myself from the melodies Johnny and I once sang together. I wanted to go my own way. I was now dealing with my own rhythm of opposites.” 

“Dear Friend, I had to say goodbye to Johnny that day. I had to say goodbye to the brother I once knew. He wasn’t the same person anymore. He was no longer Superman. He was no longer a superhero at all. Johnny was now the villain. So I had to say goodbye.”

“Dear Friend, now that we’ve bled together. Now that we’ve walked through all these storms together. Now that we have begun to find a little light again. Where do we go next?”