03/21/2022
Brotherhood: "When two men have a close and loyal friendship"
That's something Josh and I hope to have some day. But Josh gets hung up on loyalty.
For example, while he and I were in the middle of getting our photos taken on my wedding day some years ago, I distinctly remember him whispering to me, "It's me or her!"
Maintaining eye contact with the camera, I replied through an un-breaking smile, "Josh, just because I'm getting married to Maddy doesn't mean we can't be brothers anymore."
Like a ventriloquist, his mouth did not move, and yet, words spilled out, "We may still be brothers, but we may not be brotherhood."
I replied back while slowly being blinded by the sun in my unblinking gaze, "I don't-that doesn't make any sense. ‘We won't be brotherhood?’ What does that even mean?"
Josh replied back, still smiling to the camera, "I don't know what that means yet. And it's clear, neither do you. But maybe, in a few years time, we will be ready to understand what that means. In a few years time, we may be ready to join forces. And maybe, dare I say, during that search for brotherhood, we do some kick-ass work creating some kick-ass content."
The photographer finished. When I turned to respond to Josh, he was gone.
Some say he vanished into the fog. Some say that I was looking into the sun for too long and was temporarily blinded - implying he was, in fact, there all along.
I say that he did disappear and left to cook up what would become Lazarus today: a force of two brothers, doing great, good-looking work while discovering what brotherhood is all about.
A true story.