Siblings are weird. They are the only people in a person's life that can be both a friend and an enemy at once. I have four younger siblings, but my fourteen-year-old brother in particular has been a wonderful exhibit for this strange relationship dynamic over the years. For instance, one moment, we can be talking and laughing and having a grand old time, and the next we can be ready to literally kill each other. This has always confused and irritated me, but I find it very difficult to change our relationship to something a bit more neutral and a bit less violent. Everyone tells me that we will eventually become best friends as adults, and I honestly hope that's true. I want to get along with the kid; he just makes it difficult sometimes.
I can recall several occasions when he and I would be arguing and then get in trouble with one or both of our parents. Once the punishments were handed out, we automatically became allies. Why? Because we were both ticked at our parents for being so unfair and wanting their children to act like civilized humans instead of wolves trying to share a carcass.
One particularly nasty incident involved our dog, a soiled rug, and a lot of yelling between my brother and I. Mom sent us to our rooms for the rest of the day, giving us strict instructions not to speak to each other. We were at first all for it...until we got bored. We then began whispering back and forth to each other. We had no door separating our rooms, which made talking a lot easier, and we quickly mended our relationship in order to entertain each other. How does a person go from wanting to murder the other to laughing at him all within the same hour? Simple. It's the code of siblings.
Some siblings are best friends; some are not. I have yet to establish my brother's and my relationship, but we tend to get along now more often than not. If I tell him not to share something with certain family members, I no longer have to blackmail him to get him to agree. There have been a few things that he has kept quiet about for me, and I have done the same for him because that's what siblings do. We may not always like each other, but we do have the others' backs when they need it most. You mess with my brother, and I will shred you like yesterday's mail. He messes with me, though, and well...let's just say there may or may not be blood involved.
