When you give a girl a brother…

You give her someone to confide in, someone to stay up all night playing video games with (even though he says I’m trash), someone who will always be in her corner, someone she will turn to for advice. But most importantly, you give her a friend for life.

If you would have asked nine-year-old me if I liked having a brother my answer would have been simple: “hell no, he’s annoying.” But ten years later if you were to ask me that question my answer would be drastically different: “I could never live without him.”

I hear of siblings growing up and growing apart and I’m forever thankful that as we’ve gotten older we have grown closer and closer every year. I tell my brother everything, he’s my closest confidant and I don’t doubt that he always will be. He’s there for me when times are tough and I do my best to do the same for him. There isn’t anything I wouldn’t do for him.

We’ve been through a lot together through the years, and while some of the time things have sucked having him there by my side definitely made things better. I knew I was never alone no matter what I was going through; I knew he would always be someone I could talk to no matter what was going on in my life and for that, I can’t thank him enough.

I don’t know how he was able to sit there and listen to me rant every single day after school (trust me, it was every day) but it’s nice to always have someone who is willing to listen and knock me down a few notches when I’m overreacting.

I can already see his face now when he reads this because he hates when I get this cheesy. But I’ve never let him know how much I appreciate him and how much he means to me, and I’m a lot better at writing my feelings than speaking them. I hope everyone who’s been blessed with a brother is as lucky as I am to have such a strong relationship with him. I don’t know where I would be without my brother.

A brother can be a lot of things, but I’m lucky that mine is my best friend.