Let’s Play: Meet The Brenners

Alfred was the first in his family to make it to college. He had 2 brothers, who enlisted in the military early in their lives and died defending the country. He vowed to make his life beautiful and grow a big happy family to honor the sacrifice his brothers made.

Alfred had unbridled intelligence and he fell in love with science early and its a love that has fueled his dreams, quite literally. While in college, he met the love of his life Rose Parker. He proposed to her on the day they graduated.

In his 30’s, his career really took off. His wife Rose joined him at NASA, where she was instrumental in designing the rocket engines that would propel him quite literally to new heights. By the end of his 30’s, he had taken over 10 flights into outer space.

In his 40’s, Alfred and Rose co-wrote many books on their experiences and together hold over 200 patents. He did several speaking engagements on the topic of space exploration and the advancement of private space flight. He also became a father one last time at the age of 47.

Being in your 50s and raising a young child was challenging for Alfred and Rose but welcomed. Alfred continued to write many books and do more speaking engagements and developed a love for woodworking.

Rose was born to a very poor family and she has 7 other siblings. While poor, however, they had the bounty of their love for each other. She helped to raise her younger siblings and knew she would want to have her own family someday. So she worked hard in school, got good grades, and got a scholarship to college.

She went hard at college, made studying a top priority and it paid off. In more ways than one. Going to college also brought her to the love of her life, Alfred. As they walked across the stage to graduate, Alfred proposed in front of the whole graduating class. She said yes immediately. And after a modest little ceremony they set out to start their family and adventures together.

When she hit her 30’s, after years of working in several other companies, she applied to NASA and got in. On her own merit too! Alfred didn’t even know she had applied. Together, they worked on pushing the boundaries of the human race further beyond this earth. Rose designed almost all of the engines, along with her team that included her husband, that Alfred would then use when he became an astronaut.

Rose co-authored many books with Alfred, and then some of her own. She also holds several patents along with her team at NASA. Her contributions are vast and wide, but nothing fills her with more pride than watching her family grow. At 47, Rose found herself pregnant. What she thought was impossible became reality in the shape of Jazmin, her baby daughter.

Being a working mom in your 50’s is really, really hard. But Rose and Alfred made it work. As Jazmin got older she gradually found more time to devote to her other passion: gardening. She has a beautiful small garden on her property, but yearns for more land and a more quiet living.

If there was a book within a mile radius, Darius was nose-deep in it. As a child, he loved to learn. He knew from early on he wanted to become a teacher. He was always very close to his siblings, and still is so today.

Darius graduated with a degree in Economics and a minor in Education. He worked for a financial firm for a bit while completing his Masters in Education. The firm handled the estates of one of the most prominent families, The Kings. It was there that he met his wife, Imani. Darius and Imani wanted to have a big family, so they started trying to have a baby almost right away. They got their blessing and had Brandi, but that was after two miscarriages.

He had taken a new job at the University after finishing his Doctorates in Education. Imani had many troubles conceiving again and there was a lot of heartbreaks. They even tried to adopt children, but twice it fell through. They leaned on each other though it and focused on their extended family to bring them joy.

Being born to the famous King family (her uncle was Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.) immersed Imani in her culture and history. Her father died very young to sudden heart attack. So she was raised by her mother Jolene and along her the entire King family.

Imani went to the prestigious Howard University to study art theory and technique. While her family was always involved in charity work, she grew up wanting to help in any way she could. She attended many functions where the King’s would invite all their associates, it was there that she met Dairus. They got married and set out to start their family, but heartbreak would strike not once but twice before Brandi was born.

Imani painted away her sorrows and became quite well known in the field of ethnic art, channeling her diverse cultural background. She continued to try to have more children, but unfortunately during her last pregnancy she had to have emergency surgery that removed her uterus, rendering unable to have kids. So she turned to adoption. But that too has broken her heart several times. Now she’s focused on her helping her extended family with their kids and enjoys the family she does have. She absolutely dotes on Brandi.

Dahlia’s absolute love of animals started very early. It was clear she was meant to be who she turned out to be. Having had many dogs and cats, and a few horses in her young life, she decided early in high school that she wanted to become a vet.

Dahlia’s parents fostered her desire to become a vet and encouraged her to go to some of the best schools. She was an exceptional student, but she knew that her love of animals could only take her so far, she had to also know the business side of things. She got pregnant during her college years by her boyfriend Andy and together they had Luke. Nonetheless, she graduated Sigma Cum Laude, with a degree in veterinary medicine and a minor in business management. She continued on to get her masters and doctorate in vet-med.

After working for several other vet offices, Dahlia was ready to open her own. She partnered with several young vets to create her office, which today is a thriving business. She met her husband Max at the restaurant the catered all her office meals; he was the owner and had recently divorced. After just three months of dating, she got pregnant with twins. Max and Dahlia got married, but they really loved each other and its worked perfectly. So much so that they had another set of twins just a few years later.

Max always loved food, even as a young child, he was fascinated when his mother Yoli would cook. He started to create his own recipes by the time he was a freshman in high school and graduated to immediately be accepted into the Le Cordon Blue Culinary Institute in France.

He met a beautiful girl while living abroad named Priscilla. They married too quickly and didn’t really even know each other. The nature of his job meant long hours in one place, while her dream to become an archaeologist took her all over. They fought hard and crazy whenever they were together and that led to a very acrimonious divorce that saw him return home. He was left with a very lonely outlook on life until just months later he met Dahlia. She had a son, Luke, that at that time was only 4. He loved helping to raise him and maintains a good relationship with his father, Andy. He would soon find that he would get the chance to be called “dad” four times over.

One year Rose and Alfred spent a charity vacation with the family in the beautiful islands of Sulani aiding the locals recover from a volcanic explosion — Jamaal fell in love with the sea and with the island life. He knew he would one day return to live there and help to conserve the island’s beauty.

Jamaal married an island native named Connie while still living in the Valley. The fact she was born there was about the only thing they had in common. She had had a tough upbringing and it shaped her into someone that valued parties over family. When they had the kids, she was barely involved. She never took to it. She preferred to play her piano and sing in nightclubs and lounges than to be home with her kids.

Eventually, Jamaal and Connie would divorce, with him taking full custody, and very rarely does she come to see the kids. But when she does it’s not a good visit usually as Jamaal and Connie always start arguing. He just can’t help wanting her to care about the kids more. Despite his heartache, he did manage to land a job as a Conservationist and lives in Sulani. His mother Rose helps with the kids a lot.

Connie never knew her mother, only that her name was Amari. Her father was a saxophone player and she admired him and took after him in her love of music. Her father mysteriously passed away when she was just 12 years old. She was tossed around the Johnson family for a bit before eventually landing in a group home at 14. She was mercilessly teased and bullied her whole life and her only solace was writing lyrics to songs. She would later develop a talent for the piano.

One evening she met a handsome mad named Jamaal. He had had the perfect life with perfect parents. She loved the fact that he found her so interesting because she was born in Sulani. She quickly married him, and then had kids, but her first love is music. And her past has hardened her and somehow we know there is just something wrong with her that no one can pinpoint.

Later on, that little something found a diagnosis — Bi-polar disorder. She knew she would never really be any good for her husband or her children, so she put as much distance between them as she can. It’s hard for Connie to hold a job, and without a steady one you don’t have much in the way of health care, so she often misses medications that are so needed for her condition. But she also feels like they completely stifle her creativity and she can’t write or sing or play. It’s an ongoing battle every day.

As a young child Darian always looked up to his big brother Darius. Everything Darius was into, Darian wanted to be into too. They still have a very close bond to this day. He took a large interest in programming analytics software while first starting high school and it stuck with him. He joined the military to learn how to program for the Air Force complex analytics software that helped us guard against terrorist attacks. He loved everything about the military because of the stories his father would tell about his uncles, who also served.

He did a total 4 tours in the Middle East, one of which he spent almost two years away. During that time he met and fell in love with a beautiful girl named Priscilla, who happened to be in the Middle East on archaeological missions. They were married in less than 6 weeks! His family didn’t even get to meet her before they were married. Months after their marriage, they returned home together as husband and wife. Only then it became known to the family that Priscilla’s past would come back to bite her! Darian’s older sister had been married to Max, her ex-husband! Let’s just say tensions run high. Priscilla and Darian had twins a little over two years ago, so that’s solidified the fact that their kids are Max’s niece and nephew.

Priscilla comes from a well-to-do family, the Scotts. Her father, Levi is an archaeologist in his own right, having contributed to many historic finds in Egypt and the Middle East. It was natural for her to choose that line of work as she grew up with stories of adventure, danger, and treasures. She knew from grade school that that would be what she would want to become — her father. Her mother MaryJo tried to discourage her daughter from such a dangerous field, as she comes from a very traditional family where ladies are meant to stay home and raise children. But Priscilla rejected that notion, much to her father’s great approval. So off she went to study history and archaeology.

Priscilla graduated high school at 16, went straight into college and was on a study abroad in France. There she met Max, who was studying to become a chef. They were married quickly but soon realized they didn’t know each other nor how they would navigate the demands of their work as a couple. Fights ensued, and eventually they divorced. It was a very unpleasant time for both of them. After she graduated school, she got the opportunity to head to Iran on a dig. While there, the military had to be called in to provide security to the archaeological students and workers. One of the soldiers was Darian. They fell in love and got married in just 6 weeks! Neither of them had met the rest of each other’s family. Surprise, surprise… Max was now married to his sister Dahlia. Oh boy!

As a kid, you just couldn’t pull Jerrod off his video games! Luckily because Alfred and Rose were very technical themselves, they didn’t push him off of it, but rather encouraged it and allowed Jerrod to go deep into the field.  They did want him to go to college and learn the business of video gaming, so he learned from a very young age that he needed to make something out of his interests. So he taught himself to code and program as a teenager.  He hit it big when at 16 he got a contract to play for the world-famous eSports organization Cloud9.  He attended college online in between team practices and so on to continue to focus on getting his diploma.  eSports has not only given him a career he loves, it helped him introduce him to the woman that one day would be his wife.