Forgetting Who I Am

“Wait for dad,” Dax yelled to sam. Sam turned around and gave his best look of disappointment, ”does he ALWAYS have to be the LAST one?”
The heat was starting to get to the two boys as they stood at a fork in the trail. They found some shade and sat down to wait. “This pack is killing me” Sam said as he set down his 30 lbs pack. “You’re such a pussy,’ Dax quickly replied. Packing was something Dax loved. For some reason he loved strapping everything he needed to his back and hiking for 50+ miles only to turn around a couple days later and hike out. There was something, real, something, honest about backpacking. You couldn’t cheat, you couldn’t quit. Backpacking, to Dax, was the only thing that still seemed pure. Dax loved it when people would complain about how hard the trail was or how heavy their pack was. Dax loved to hear people whine, cause then he could enforce rule number one. Rule number one in backpacking, is if anyone complains, when they aren’t looking you can fill their pack full of rocks. Dax had done that a couple times, he thought it was hilarious. He sat on the trail fighting every temptaion of filling his little brothers back pack as Sam laid down with his eyes closed in the shade. Before he could make a decision he saw his sister coming down the trail. “Brady” Dax yelled, “how far are you in front of dad?”
“I have no clue” she said as she glanced over her shoulder. Brady was Dax’s older sister, she was kind of the second mom of the family. Anytime no parents were in the house Brady would take the leadership role; even if she wasn’t the oldest. Dax watched her as she got closer, her long blonde hair was pulled back in a pony tail and covered by a baseball cap. She slowly made her way up the trail and stopped next to Dax. “Please help me get this off” Brady pleaded as she turned her pack to Dax. “Where’s Jake?” Dax replied as he began unbuckling the straps. Just as Dax finished his question they could both see the oldest brother, Jake, walking up to meet them. Jake was the oldest boy, he was tall with curly hair just like his dad. He was very quiet and liked to keep to himself, but when around family, many got to see his sense of humor that everyone loved. “What took you so long?” Sam blurted from under the tree. In this family, EVERYTHING was competiiton. Whether it was a pick up basketball game played on the hoop by the side of the house, or just who could hit the tree with a rock first, EVERYTHING was competition. “I had to help mom with her pack!” Jake quickly said in defense of his tardiness. “You wait for her and watch her FREAK out on you!” They all began to laugh because they could see their mom yelling at Jake to fix her pack.
“Dax, you want anything from the store?” Dax jumped and was taken out of his memory to find himself back in his messy room holding the family picture. “Um.. no, i’m ok, thanks anyway” Dax said as he began to take another bite out of his bagel. ”Alright but I don’t want you sitting there all afternoon, you have a lot of work to do.” Dax’s mother closed the door and started down the hall. Dax looked back down and stared at the picture. The picture reflected all six of the family members standing at the trial head. Dax’s father, was standing in the middle with a serious look on his face as if he was mad that he was going camping. But that wasn’t the case, thats just how he was, he never smiled for pictures, he stood tall with arms spread wide as if he had his arms around the whole family. This picture made Dax laugh as this had been taken back when his dad had dread locks. See, Dax’s father was, well, a hippie. He stood at about six feet tall with a big build. The hair on his face was scruffy enough to know he hadn’t known what a razor was in weeks and his long curley hair was all matted up and looked as if it hadn’t been washed in months. But he didn’t care, he loved his look. He knew his hair and build is what got him the nickname that fit so perfect, Buffalo. Buffalo was a true hippie at heart. His inside was laced with beliefs of anti-big-government and peace across the world, he was very laid back, easy going and had a funny sense of humor if you could get him to talk. His style of clothing said it all, wearing a Bob Marley ti-dye shirt and hemp jewelry covering his neck and wrists. Dax’s mother stood next to Buffalo with a big smile and her arms wrapped tight around her husband. She was the total opposite of Buffalo, she did have many of the same beliefs and some of her styles were similar, but her personality could not be more opposing. She, unlike her husband of 25 years, was loud, opinionated, and very agressive. Watching how those two get along was hilarious. She stood around five foot five and had light brown hair that just touched the middle of her back. Her eyes were as blue as the sky and her smile was deciving as it came across innocent.  Dax examined each sibling and began to think again about the trip. He thought about how his dad was always the last one. Dax knew his father was a big strong man, he wasn’t slow and if he wanted to he could probably beat all the siblings to the end of the trail with no problem. So why did he stay so far behind all the time?
“BAM” Dax was startled by a loud noise coming from the kitchen, he set the photo down and started down the hall. He stood at the top of the stairs and leaned down to see what all this noise was about…

“Wake up!” His mom yelled as she flipped on the light and opened the door. “You have a lot to do today.” Dax rolled over, “I AM up.”  He rubbed his eyes and sat up. His mom was right, he had a lot to do. He had to pack up EVERYTHING he had ever owned; for in two short days, he was off to college. It hadn’t really hit him that he was leaving, he just knew he was FINALLY able to get out of the house and do what he wanted. No more curfew, no one to tell him to stop playin loud music and he could eat whatever he wanted. Yes, it truely was a time of freedom, and he couldn’t wait til that day. He walked down stairs to see his little brother, Sam, sitting at the counter eating breakfast. He opened up the cubboards to see all the golden grams were gone. He turned with a death stare to his brother, “where in the hell are all the golden grams?”
“Ummm… ” Sam hesitated, “this is the last bowl.”
A grunt came from Dax as he shut the cubboard door. Thats how his life has gone for 18 years. He always seemed to be a buck short, a day late. He was sick of getting whatever was left to him, in this case it was Raisen Bran, Dax hated raisens. He grabbed a bagel and went back up stairs. As he opened his door, he stared at the mess that he called his room. On a good day you could catch a glimps of the floor; but for the most part it was covered by clothes, books he never read and other items that he managed to add to his collection of garbage over the years. He would normally shove his mess under his bed, but ever since his bed broke while he was doing WWF moves on his little brother, he’s only had a mattress on the ground. As Dax sat on his bed the look on his face was a dead give away to his thoughts. He had no clue where to start. He reached onto the ground and picked up a picture, It was of his family in the Uintahs. The Uintahs was a mountain range not far from his house where his family would spend a lot of there summers; hiking and backpacking. He smiled, he loved that trip; he took a bite of his bagel as he began to recall his memories….