Brad LOVED Frank Sinatra and sadly ol' Blue Eyes passed away on May 14, 1998 while the 4 of us were in Las Vegas.  The night after Frank's passing all of the lights on the Vegas Strip were dimmed and the casinos stopped spinning for a minute in his honor. 

Being a Floridian, I was not prepared for the cool weather in Atlanta in late October of 1997 and being typical Brad - he gave me the sweater off his back.  I LOVE that sweater and would wear it often during cold snaps.  Brad and I stopped dating in 1999 but remained good friends all these years. Ironically I was wearing his sweater while visiting Virginia on Christmas when I got the very sad news of his passing.  Thanks for the sweater, Brad - I'm glad I have such fond memories of you and will wear your sweater forever!

Brad broke his leg after a rough jump out of a perfectly good airplane!  This photo was taken in October of 1997 when I first met Brad - our first date was Dave & Buster's in Atlanta.  He loved arcades! 

Circa 1997 or 98 - My mother was notorious for cutting people out of photographs (usually someone at either end) and in this family picture, Brad plopped himself right in the middle and loudly stated "no one is cutting ME out the picture."  He was always doing something silly!

It was 2005 and about 150 degrees in my shitty little college apartment in DeKalb IL. I had like 15 minutes to move out (or so it felt like) and being the forever friend that Brad was he dropped everything to come help me. He and I had spent lots of time together usually having all the fun.... this night there was nothing to look forward to. Of course he came in ready to work. We laughed...we packed... brought loads of crap to the car... I cried... so did he... or maybe that was sweat.... anyway... about 1am came around and the last thing to go was this humungous particle board entertainment center. I thought we could just throw it over the balcony and haul it to the dumpster in pieces but not smart I guess. I proceeded to get the tools but, in an effort to save time Brad just started tearing the thing apart. One board after the next after the next until he grabbed his neck with a look of pure fear all over his face. Then came the blood and he ran to the bathroom to check himself out. Instead of 911 he insisted I drive the impala to the ER. Why should he have to ride in my shitty Honda. After a short stint in the ER and a tetanus shot later, Brad was all stitched up but just fine. He happened to miss his jugular vein by a millimeter. The best friend. He even took a rusty nail to the neck for me. He would do just about anything for any of us. We've lost one of the best there ever was.

I was going through all the photos I have of Brad and I attached a few in the gallery.  However, this one stuck out to me.  When I think of Brad and all the wild times we had this picture sums it up.  He always made me laugh so hard it hurt.  I had many great times with my wild friend and I will never forget him.  He stayed with me often over the last few years and we always had a great time.  He always cooked delicous meals and shared great stories of his adventures when he was away.  But just as the wind blows he would eventually go. I missed him when he was away and was always so happy to see him when he came back.  I needed a few days to recover when he blazed down the road but always looked forward to his return.  He was kind and had a huge heart.  He always left me a gift when he left and I would find it hidden in some random place.  It made me smile to know I had a great friend.  I loved him like a brother and will never forget him.  

Alex 

Lol

Chicago

Hey Anne, I think I was with you on this night. I could be wrong but I remember this photo. In fact, I think I took the picture. Is that right? 

Brad loved arcades. When we were kids we played so many games it was ridiculous. 

As we all know, Brad shared a last name with 2 Presidents and the large portion of my time working at the White House was during "W's" administration. My assignment with all its perks came with an identification that we called a "flip-top" and on the outside, there was an official looking badge. During the 2004 campaign season, Brad and I frequented a little town called Las Vegas. Many times, these trips would have us hanging out with one group of friends and they would leave then another group would show up. A couple of times we stretched these trips into nearly 2 weeks at a time which resulted in both of us "getting the fear" on numerous occasions. This time was no different!  

However, given that Vegas can be a place where lines to all the "hot spots" can be rather long and often have a ridiculous cover charge, we found a way around both. I would go up to the head of the line with Brad's ID, while Brad hung back a few feet looking indifferent about going in. I would then utilize my flip-top and explain that he's the President's Nephew and that he's getting soft Secret Service protection while working on the campaign. This most often would get us whisked right into the club and promptly seated in a VIP section and given the best of service, many times costing us little to nothing.

The last time we did this (and for good reason) we were at "Ghost Bar" and I did my thing and right in we went, up the VIP elevator and right into a VIP area. That's when the gig was almost up, the security guy who escorted us up, came back over, of course doing his best to impress his boss. His boss, being the Chief of Security, came with him, he introduced us and then the Chief of Security said that when the "Twins" (aka W's daughters) come, that the Vegas Field Office usually contacts them ahead of time and they usually send a few guys over in advance. I had to explain that the President's daughters have a full-time detail and that "Mr. Bush" (Brad) doesn't. He only gets 1-2 USSS Agents while out conducting campaign work and tonight he's in between events and is taking a night to relax and that I was asked to come over to assist him in the event there's any issues for him.  

Playing off one another, Brad came over and did the political thing and shook the guys hand and introduced himself. He then pulled me to the side (of course as a show) and asked me "do we have a problem" and of course I said, "no sir" Brad then said, "do I need to call my uncle" and I said, "sir, involving the President isn't necessary" and then Brad went back to sit down. At this point, we were seen as legitimate but to assist me provide security, the Chief of Security sent over 3 of his guys to post up around Brad. This of course made Brad very interesting to everyone, especially the ladies, because a group of about 4-5 women came over and asked me if they could sit with him. I then went over and pretended to discuss it with Brad, at this point he looked over my shoulder at them then gave me the ok to allow them to join him at his table.

I've got to say, this whole time, I'm thinking that an actual USSS Agent is going to show up at any point and call me out then I would get in real trouble. Thankfully, Brad understood the predicament I was in and I asked if we could bounce and he smartly agreed, and so we dipped, back down the VIP elevator and away we went to Circus-Circus and promptly got the fear.

Annual ugly sweater party 2016

It took a minute for my niece to warm up to Brad ... it was really funny because I think his beard frightened her, but as you can see he prevailed and she couldn't resist him.

Hawaiii

World Series!! Go Cubs!! W

Architectural tour Chicago 2015 worth Doria

Barclays Center Islanders Vs BlackHawks with my son amd Sammy 2015

Boston Fenway Park Cubs vs Red Sox 2016

Hey Dan, I can clearly see you shared the same type of experiences as myself. Brad was always messing around in the garage, in between reps of bench presses while blasting Kool Mo D, 2 Live Crew, Ice Cube, Ice T, Frank Sinatra, Reverend Horton Heat (I never understood that one), Public Enemy, Rat Pack, Sammy Davis Jr, etc. 

Great story about the fish. I too fished with him. We did everything! We did really stupid dangerous stuff too. That dirtbike was trouble. I think we're both lucky we survived that thing. 

The thing about Brad was, he wanted you to share in his madness. He experienced so much joy out of the world and wanted you to see it in that beautiful way that he did. Again, he was a one of a kind.

I will miss the hijinks. I figured we'd be doing this junk until at least our 70s. Nonetheless, the memories will last me beyond that age. Thanks for reading. 

Mexico 2015

Brad & I in North Carolina at the Panthers Vs Bears game 2014

Brad on the set of Latenight with David Letterman 

Brad, Sarah, Jim, and Todd ...we were in San Diego for the Chargers -Bears game 

Brad, Todd, & Jim in Hawaii celebrating Todd 

Todd & Brad in San Diego at a Cubs vs. PDres game 2015

I have to credit Brad for introducing me to some cool stuff over the years.  I came over to his house once and he was blasting Iron Maiden 'Live After Death', cleaning his room.  Somehow I'd never been introduced but he made an instant fan of me.  Another time it was Public Enemy.  Coolness!  But then, many years later he busted out a massive bootleg CD collection of Phish concerts.  I thought "the hell happened to your fine tastes!? I wish I didn't see this" 

As Reid mentioned Brad liked to wrestle a lot... and specifically when you didn't want to, or technically shouldn't.  One particular time we were riding a Honda 50 dirtbike in a field. He was behind me holding on when suddenly he puts me in a choke-hold while we're going 20 miles an hour!  "Try to get out!" he yelled.  We wiped out pretty quick.  But aside from the times we weren't in-transit he taught me some cool moves.

Brads garage was always a mess of things he took apart because he always wanted to figure out how things worked.  Very technical but in a mad-scientist way.  One day after fishing we brought the catch back and starting cleaning them.  After he cut the head of this big black carp he said those words "I have an idea".  He rummaged through tools for a bit and came back with a butter knife and a 9volt battery.  He placed them against the fishes torso and its whole body started flapping! Mad and rad = Brad

Hey, this is my Nebraska #22 Rex Burkhead jersey! Brad and I used to share some clothes over the years, such as this jersey. I believe I gave this to him in 2012 when we went to the Nebraska game at Northwestern in Evanston. It was your typical wonderful day with Bush. Meanwhile, looks like Todd took this photo. Glad to see he wore it while drinking a cold Miller Lite. Just my style.....Tell us more about it Todd!

Dan, those are tremendous stories. I love them. Keep writing. I have endless stories too. Brad loved handcuffs, magic kits, all that kind of stuff. He was interested in everything. He used to wrestle me mercilessly. It made me tougher. 

Brad was always "up to something". He used to get me to his house with the promise of playing RBI Baseball, but it always took awhile to get to that. First I had to engage him and entertain him with his seemingly endless ideas. 

Great times. What a guy he was. A one of a kind.

Whenever your hear Brad say "I have an idea" you know your gonna end up doing whatever it is.  There was never any need to fuss.  I dont think he ever had a bad idea but this one time you might've categorized he had one.  You see he was running a fever and his eyes were watering, and he basically looked like hell.  Anyhow he had pellet gun that looked like a 45 and his idea was to shoot a cigarette that I would have in my mouth.  "Sure" I said.  I trusted his aim.  So I walked about 15 feet away, lit it up, turned sideways and Brad took aim.  In between sneezes he pulled off a miracle of a shot. The cigarette was still between my lips fully intact, but he had shot a hole right through it! Simply incredible. I kept it for years until I lost it somehow

I was probably 8 years old and me, my brother John and Brad were all hanging out, playing upstairs in my room.  At some point my brother pulled out some handcuffs that he'd gotten from a toy store.  There was no gimick release on these things. They truley required a key.  It wasn't long until Brad challenged me to pull a Houdini in them.  So I let him handcuff my wrists to the top bunk rail of the bed, standing up.  I struggled for a bit.  Then I heard the door open downstairs and it was my mom.  I swear that only a few seconds elapsed before Brad sprung into action and pulled my pants down and impersonated my voice.  He yelled loud "Mom!  Help me mom! Help!". He and my brother quickly scurried into the next room to hide.  I could hear the sound of the stairs.  I don't remember what happened after that.