My brother and I do not have your typical brother and sister relationship. When I was little, I didn't know what to think when my mom and dad told me I would have a little brother. I was happy that I would be getting someone that I could play with, but I was mad at the same time that I would not be an only child anymore. When my brother and I were little, we were best friends. We would play in the kitchen with the pots, I would pretend that he was one of my dolls, and we would go outside and play in the mud. When we were little I loved him to death and couldn't get enough of him but when we got a little bit older, we disliked each other. My brother and I would fuss about every little thing. If I looked at him wrong or if he looked at me wrong, we would fuss. I never thought we would get back to how we were when we were little. As we got older things were still bad.

Then one day, I just took a long hard look at him and saw how strong of a person he has become. He turned into a man right in front of my eyes, and I didn't know it. It has now come time for me to go off to college and be without him. I wish I wouldn't have spent a lot of time fussing with him when we were younger because I feel we spent too much time fussing instead of loving each other, and it took a lot for me to see that.

If you would have asked me a few years ago if I would miss my brother when I went to college, I would have said no. Now, I know that I will miss him so, so much. It is going to be hard to go off and not be able to watch him grow up before my eyes every day. He still has a lot of growing up to do, and I will miss him, and I hate it. I wish I could go back and love him all the time, the way I do now. He is the strongest and the smartest person I know. I'm lucky to have him. I will not be here to keep him out of trouble or help him through high school. It's gonna be one of the hardest things I will ever have to do.

So, my advice is to always love your siblings, whether it is your younger brother, older brother, sisters, etc. Don't be mean to them because you don't know what could happen to them when you're gone. Something could happen to them or one day you could blink like me and your younger brother will be a man standing six-feet tall looking down at you. Always love your family even if they annoy you because if you love them like I love mine, you will hate to blink and walk out the door and miss what you should have been enjoying all along. I will miss you bro.