*Smack!*

Our argument has once again escalated to using our fists. I, of course, was hit too hard and go looking for any excuse to get my older sibling into trouble. Sometimes, it would work, and when it did I'd rather to have just suffered the physical pain from our fights and not the emotional pain from his words.

Looking back, I couldn't believe the stories I would hear about our younger selves. My family would reminisce about how he would feed and clothe me when I was unable to do it for myself. They would recite his words of, "Don't hurt my sister!" in his attempt to protect me from my deserved punishment. Now, I only find him protecting me from the male gender.

But my stories are a bit different. When our parents would leave us alone, it would be the best of times and the worst of times. When he wasn't bribing me to remove the insects he had planted from my room, we would attempt to cook and watch movies together. When my brother and I would watch scary movies, we would build a fort to watch cartoons in an attempt to recover from the frightening images on the screen.

My beloved sibling would use any excuse to come into my room to torment me. However, I would hardly change a thing.

Pushing past the chaos, I would remember my brother walking home with me from school. I remember how he would carry my backpack with excessive amounts of glitter and the color pink when I wasn't well. I can recollect the time he allowed me to carry and use the only umbrella in the pouring rain for it was much too small for two people.

As we grew older, I can more clearly quote his words of, "I didn't think you had it in you." upon receiving word of my newest accomplishment. I can count on one hand how many times I received a text from him in a months time, but when I do, my face aches from smiling.

Although he may not, I remember our talks of our future, our shortcomings and many other miscellaneous topics. Thanks older brother, for being the one that administers the blows and the band-aids. You definitely aren't perfect, but you're, as mother would say, all I have. And what I have, is all I could ever ask for.