I remember the day my little brother was brought home. I mostly remember the disgust I felt that it wasn't my new little sister that I could dress up all day. He took everyones attention away from me and made me incredibly jealous. As we’ve grown up an gotten over the little kid phase, he’s started to become one of my best friends. He barely talks to me and often slams our bathroom door shut if I try to talk to him, but he has become a person that I know I’ll always have on my side.
Unlike older brothers and little sisters, we’ve never been very protective of each other. The larger the age difference the harder it can be to be close friends. When I hated him for being born the most, I refused to help his tiny self onto the bus his first day of kindergarten. I think I’ve made it up over time, paving the way for him with mom and dad and how to handle the most diva-y of divas (myself). Karma comes in funny ways, and for me, it’s having a little brother who is a much better person than I ever will be.
As we grew up he was annoying and smelly, always missing the toilet and somehow only covering the seat in pee. He’d attack me with a Nerf gun or air soft gun out of no where for no good reason. I also dressed him up in his fair share of princess dresses and screamed at him for breathing near my Barbie dolls. Then we stopped torturing each other, basically stopped talking to each other altogether as we became teenagers. It wasn't until I went to college that I began to appreciate my little brother. Plus he’s somehow taught me quite a few lessons.
1. How to be motivated
The second my brother got his license, he started looking for a job—something I never thought about as a newly licensed driver. He doesn't want to share a "girl" car with me, so he's saving up money for a car. I just took whatever my parents gave me without thinking.
2. Sports are important
Although I might never be able to be a commentator on Sports Center, I can hold my own during baseball, soccer, basketball and football games. He'll make fun of me for getting too into a game every now and then, but I know he appreciates my commentary whether he's playing or its the NBA Finals.
3. Don't ask too many questions
This could also be "Silence is Key" since if I ask more than one question I'm shut down. It's taught me to choose my words wisely to get the most info in the simplest way possible.
4. I'll always be annoying.
Even after driving him for four hours to see his favorite rapper, I will never be cool enough to chill with his friends. Even if I was the President of the United States, I would still be annoying.
5. Being weird is OK.
As an older sister, my brother is a weirdo. Always has been always will be, but that's ok because his preference to never wear a shirt might be really strange, but once you get to college, it has you prepared for even weirder things.
That I'm not funny.
Why would an older sister ever be funny, since I am usually the lamest person in the world. No matter what I try to do, in front of his friends or just around our family, I will always fail at making people laugh.
We're in this together.
It never clicked while we were younger, but now we've realized that we have to work together to navigate our parents. Wether it's when we have to share cars or are blowing through our data, we've figured out how to deal with it together and share any blame, rather than play the blame game our younger selves favored.
We're built in best friends.
It might be hard to tell now, but we're the only two people who have been through the same thing together. As we grow up we'll have each other to complain about our parents and figure out adulthood together. We'll never call each other best friends, but we know it deep down.
