My brother is seven years younger than I am. Let’s just reiterate how much younger that is. When he graduates high school * insert shudder here * I will be 24 years old and when he graduates college * dies * I will be 28 years old. That’s crazy. I’m not mentally prepared for that to happen, especially because he still seems like my baby brother.
As different as my brother and I are (interests, talents, generational differences, you name it), there’s one thing that I will never be able to get away from: how similar we look.
You might think that a 20-year-old girl and a 14-year-old boy would really be very different looking—but oh no, there are just some things you can never get away from.
1. People know you’re related right away
While I was abroad my entire family came, traveled 4,000 miles to visit me. While a good amount of my friends abroad knew that my family would be visiting, obviously I hadn’t told everybody. I was going to meet my family for breakfast at La Milkeria one morning and I was sitting, waiting at a table for my family to arrive. Suddenly my friend came over to me and asked “That’s your brother, right?”
Now let me just say, my brother had walked in ahead of the rest of my family and this particular friend didn’t know that my family would be visiting. But that’s how similar we look. People, strangers even, just know that we are related. We look more similar to each other than we do to either of our parents.
2. Grandparents can’t tell the difference between baby pictures
Once I showed my grandma a photograph of myself as a baby and ask her whom it was. She was so confident. “Oh that’s your brother!” she exclaimed.
3. Your friends are strangely each other’s friends
This was weird to me at first. I don’t know if it’s because we look similar or have slightly similar personalities, but my friends love my brother and his friends all follow me on Instagram (which is still a little weird).
Part B of this is that you end up a few fake brothers and sisters.
I have two best friends that are actually basically like my brother’s two other older sisters. We all went to his 8th grade “move up” celebration and they love him as if he were their own sibling. When my family goes to my brother’s soccer or basketball games, I feel pride for a few of his friends that I basically consider my fake brothers.
4. You don’t completely hate each other
Another positive of having a sibling in general, and especially one that looks weirdly similar, is that you don’t completely hate them. When you’re growing up, they annoy the sh*t out of you, but once you’re a little older, you actually enjoy their company.
