Growing up, I always wanted an older sister. In fact, one of the reasons I joined a sorority was because I wanted to feel the love between sisters and I gained it between my 90 amazing sisters. But not a day goes by that I’m not extremely thankful for getting an older brother. My brother has taught me an incredible amount of things in life: He has given me an endless amount of advice about school, friends, and boys. He has helped me decide what I want to do in life and helped me make the right choices to pursue that career, while simultaneously making sure I have as much fun as possible because you’re only young once. He has had an incredible impact on making me the person I am today and I couldn’t be happier about it.
My brother and I haven’t always been this close. He is seven years older than me and, growing up, this was a huge inconvenience for us to become close. He had already been through puberty and girlfriends before I even knew boys existed, and graduated college the same year I finished my freshmen year of high school. Many times, I felt like we were on different paths. During my younger years, it was hard for us to become close because we had so many different interests. I would want to bond by watching TV, but I watched cartoons and he watched “older” shows. I wanted to play with dolls and he wanted to play sports. Then, it turned into him going out partying and drinking with his friends and I didn’t know what alcohol was. Once he went away to college at the beginning of my fifth grade, I missed him like crazy, but I also felt like I missed out on being close with the only sibling I had. I was missing the opportunity more than I was missing the person.
Once my brother returned from college in my sophomore year of high school, everything changed. Almost instantly, we became close. Even though I have an amazing dad, the fact that my brother is so much older than me made him into both a brother and a father figure. We still had the age difference, but now we were both more mature, we began having similar interests and bonded over them. We could watch the same movies, play video games together and have life talks when we were home alone.
When it came time for me to apply to colleges, he was the person I leaned on the most: He was the most recent graduate and had all the inside tips and tricks for me. He told me which school would be best because of what I wanted and it is because of him I’m starting my junior year at Rowan and couldn’t be happier about it. Whenever I have any type of problem, he is the first person I go to for help. Whether its making me laugh because I’m sad, helping me deal with a major issue, or getting me out of serious trouble, I can always count on my brother to be there even if we are 107 miles away. We may not have always been this close, but I couldn’t imagine having any type of different relationship with my brother and I’m thankful everyday to have someone as amazing as him in my life.
