About the Author
Who is Brannon "Osten" Meador?
My name is Brannon Malcom “Osten” Meador. I have seen some s#&%. I have also learned a lot along the way. All of these experiences have changed and shaped me into the person I am today. Some of these situations were self inflicted. Some were out of my control. Now that I have lived through all of this and have the chance to look back, I would like to take inventory of what I have learned and whom I have become.
Brannon's Early Years
When I say I have seen some things, I mean I have seen some wild times. I grew up in a house with five sisters. We called Mena, Arkansas home, but we moved back and forth from Wichita, Kansas. My mother, who was and always will be my best friend, was a victim of the pharmaceutical system during the opioid epidemic while also battling lingering childhood trauma. My father was in and out with his family, his sobriety, jobs, and relationships. He was a cooler kid than any of us, but he just couldn’t grow up. My sisters and I raised each other after Mom and Dad split, until I was taken in by my grandmother when I was twelve years old. She was seventy years old at the time and her screws, while they were a little loose before, were all but undone. She gave us a better life, though. She would have done anything for us. She kept an entire farm with more animals than you can count and a house with six kids running alone. Depending on the day, Grandma could either be a blinding energetic light or a wild wrathful force.
Life in College & Beyond
I left my grandmother’s house at eighteen for college in Conway, Arkansas. I met some of my favorite people in that city. I also had the misfortune of experiencing some of the worst. I worked in the service industry throughout my stay there, and still bartend to this day. In that line of work, you are exposed to a lot of very unstable and energetic people. The stories I could tell from behind the bar would blow your mind. I lived and worked all over Conway. I got my first serious job at Buffalo Wild Wings as a fry cook at eighteen. I moved out of the back of house and onto the floor soon after. I then found a home at TGI Friday’s for three long years. I was quickly learning about people and how to work a bar with some flair. I became a fairly well known character in the five years I called Conway home. After I moved on to JJ’s Grill for some serious bartending, my best friend Logan was in a motorcycle accident. I was the most financially stable I had ever been. I knew I had to help. We decided he needed to get to Texas to be with his family. A year later we moved off. Now I am out here on this island. Farther from home than I have ever lived. I have a direction, I have the love of a good woman, and I have my best friends all here for me as I look for my role in this crazy world.
I am going to go about this taking of inventory in the only way I know how. I will be taking an objective look into my most meaningful relationships. I want to take a look at my interactions with family and friends to see how I have affected and been affected by them. By using people as the subject, stories will bring themselves out organically. Each story is unique and has had a unique effect on my life. To better tell these stories, I am committed to getting both sides. I “interview” each one. I sit down with them. We have a beer or something. We talk as I jot down our stories. We say things we have never said. Drag up stories one or both of us had nearly forgotten. By putting these people to paper, as long as I am HONEST, any and all feelings will be expressed. At the end, every friend and family member will know exactly what they mean to me. They will no longer be held only in my memory. I get my therapy, they get their stories out into the world, and you all get to ride along inside my wild memory.