Brothers. Avid mess makers. Best friends. For me, at least, my younger brothers are much more than just "brothers" to me. Half the time they make me want to rip my hair out, the other half of the time they make me laugh until I cry. Can't live with them, could never imagine living without them. Growing up with these "bundles of joy," however, comes with an abundance of small, life-changing and all-too-common phenomena.
1. Turning 16 means becoming a personal driver
Turning sixteen is by far one of the most exciting things in the world for high schoolers. It means freedom, a driver's license, and many times, a car. However, having younger siblings means you are now your parent's go-to for driving people to hockey practices, doctors appointments, and friend's houses. The high schooler in you wants to complain because let's get real, what else do high schoolers do, but I can say some of my favorite memories of growing up were simply running errands with my brothers. Those late night drives to and from the hockey rink were so seemingly insignificant, but made you closer every single day
2.You have VERY mixed emotions when they start dating
Wait, they have a romantic side? Where did this come from? What is this girl like? These are all questions that ran through my head when my brother first got a girlfriend. I felt a mixture of happiness for him, confusion, and a little bit of shock. While you are happy for them, you sit there and try to shake off the overly protective feeling you get. Please, please let this girl have a heart as full as the heart inside of my brother.
3. You have fallen victim to unimaginable pranks
I've woken up with a live turtle in my bed, witnessed my brothers and their friends trying to figure out a way to put my mini fridge on the roof, found a live catfish swimming in their bathtub, seen about eight seventh grade boys fully dressed in my clothes, found snappers under my toilet seat, and come home to my room covered in toilet paper, just to name a few.
4. You have an unwritten language with each other
My brothers seem to find catch phrases or terms that make them laugh and never forget them. Our house is constantly ringing with words like "yee yee" and "tweener." Not only do half of the things we say have absolutely no English meaning, they also make sense to nobody else around us which is why I think we cling onto them so hard.
5. When they make you proud, they make you VERY proud
I cannot even count the times I've told someone how good I think my brother is at hockey or how impressive it is that my other brother can literally build anything you could imagine. Little things like being on the honor roll, winning a game, or even seeing them perform an act of kindness genuinely warms your heart and makes you proud to claim them.
6. A nice, quiet dinner is something you've only seen in movies
The dinner table. The one place you can all sit together at one time and have nowhere else to be. Family dinners are one of my favorite things in the world. A nice quiet affair of talking about our day, however, is completely out of the ordinary. Having brothers means a dinner with a sports game on the TV, burps that your neighbors down the street could probably hear, and laughing about something stupid until you can barely breathe. While a nice, quiet dinner seems nice, I wouldn't have it any other way.
7. You have life-long best friends
I'd be lying if I said my brothers aren't some of my favorite people in the entire world. They make me laugh, they make me proud, and they make life full. I often find myself asking my brothers for advice instead of my friends, just because I know they will always have my best interest in mind. Sometimes they are loud, sometimes they drive my crazy, sometimes (usually) they smell, but I could not imagine what my life would be like without them. Life with little brothers is crazy and chaotic and I would not trade it for the entire world.
