J O S H U A

Joshua Michael DeCorte.

Joshua with Jack at his graduation ceremony.

My 16-year-old baby brother. Without our dad around, he has always referred to me as his second mom or even his dad. He wants to be a Marine. His favorite foods are rice, soy sauce, and pepperoni pizza. His heart his huge when it comes to his family, but other than that he has no time for nonsense. His favorite show is Rick and Morty and his favorite movie is JarHead. 

Joshua today, at the beginning of June, is a COMPLETELY opposite person than the boy I knew last June.

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Last June, Josh flipped our family upside down.  I will spare you the details but give you the longggg story short – well as short as I can. 

Basically, Joshua was acting out – a lot. More than the “normal” 15-year-old boy from a small town should. He was smoking. He was dealing drugs. He was sneaking alcohol. He stopped doing his school work. He even stopped going to school.

The straw that broke the camel’s back was when he ran away from home. Literally. 

He ran away to his 12-year-old girlfriend’s house and didn’t tell anyone.  He went for a “walk” and never came home. We searched the neighborhood and the streets nearby. For hours. Eventually, my mom made her way to the police station, and there she filed a missing person report.

Joshua in the Summer of 2018.

We were all worried sick. We went to bed, but we didn’t sleep. 

The next morning there was still no news on Joshua. I assumed the worse – so did my mom. Jack was too scared to say anything. 

Of course the next day, I had jury duty, Jack had to go to work, and so did my mom. We were all just waiting for that phone call that he was found safe. 

There was a moment of relief when the police said they were going to the next town over to the girlfriend’s house to look for him. This moment was crushed when we found out that her mother said she hadn’t seen him.

We told the police that there is literally nowhere else he could be. He had to be at this girl’s house. The police decided to go back and to our surprise (but also not really) Joshua was getting into the mother’s car. 

The police updated us and he was sent to a mental hospital for a few weeks. 

T H E  A F T E R M A T H

There are a few more details that I decided to leave out but after that incident (and everything else prior) I just really didn’t think Joshua and I’s relationship was ever going to be repaired. 

We spent the summer living as roommates rather than siblings.

Joshua & I at Disney in 2018.

My mom ended up sending him on this wilderness “retreat” in the woods of Minnesota for 6 weeks. Here he was forced to get his act together. I didn’t have high hopes that he would change. We had tried stuff like this before and it really didn’t phase him. 

I went away to college by the time he returned home and didn’t see him until Christmas break.

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These day’s Joshua and I’s relationship is 100% better than ever.

Joshua circa 2010.

He has proven that he has changed his ways. He has apologized. He even joined the Young Marines.

I am so proud of him for deciding to turn his life around before it reached the point of no return. He really is turning out to be a wonderful young man.

I can honestly say that I am proud to call him my baby brother. His mental and behavioral growth is admirable and I think he will excel in the military someday.