People are often confused when I tell them that my best friend is an eighth-grade boy. They don’t understand how an 18-year-old girl in her freshman year of college could call a gangly, 14-year-old boy her best friend. After all, what could we possibly have in common? He plays basketball and golf, loves history and geography, has a small group of close friends, and is a “man of few words”. In contrast, I have no hand-eye coordination, love anything science related, desire to be friends with absolutely everyone I come into contact with, and could talk your ear off. It sounds like we could not be any more opposite, right?

Well that’s where you’ve got it all wrong. My little brother is my best friend and I am not ashamed to admit that.

He is kind, laughs at my jokes even when they aren’t funny, lets me sleep in his bed when I’m scared, FaceTimes me when I’m away at school, tells me about his life, and lets me nag him with a million questions. He calmly puts up with me when I freak out about little things, he lets my friends invade his space, and he always knows what to say when I’m upset. He has the same sense of humor as me and is the one person in this world that I know I will always have fun with no matter what. He teaches me about sports, helps me understand why boys act the way they do, and has never let me down. He gives the best hugs, lets me annoy him as much as I want, and has never said one mean thing to me. He uplifts me, supports me, protects me from anyone or anything that hurts me, and understands who I am like nobody else.

I realized a long time ago how lucky I was to have him as my brother. I know that not everyone has been as blessed as I am to be so close with their siblings, but there is truly no other bond quite like that of a brother and sister. It breaks my heart more than anything that I had to go to college when he still has so much time at home. Sometimes, I get scared that he will forget what it's like to have me home with him. After all, he still has the rest of 8^th grade and all of high school to go through without me there. I get sad at the thought of missing his basketball games, golf tournaments, helping him with his homework, and giving him advice on how to navigate the craziness that comes with growing up. I want to be there when he takes a girl on a date for the first time and I want to be there when he has a bad day. Even though I’m always just a phone call away, it makes me sad that I will have to miss a lot of those moments. He didn’t miss any of mine, so why do I have to miss any of his?

Although it isn’t fair that I don’t get to be with him all the time, I hope he always remembers how much I love him. If everything else in his life is unstable, I hope my little brother knows that his big sister will never let him down or leave him. I hope he remembers all of the things I’ve tried to teach him over the years. He needs to be kind always, think before he speaks, hold the door for everyone, talk to parents with eloquence, always look out for girls, set goals and work hard to achieve them, and believe in himself no matter what. I would do absolutely anything for my little brother. He’s my person. I am the luckiest girl in the world that I get to have a little brother AND that he gets to double as my best friend.