As my final days of spending time with my family came to a close and the move to college loomed near, I couldn't help but feel saddened by the fact that my younger brother would now be living the single child life while I would be halfway across the world. After a mere few hours without my brother around, it has already felt so foreign and strange. Before heading off to start my new adventure, I wanted to list all of the things I’m going to miss about my brother, as told by the greatest TV siblings, Monica and Ross Geller.
1. Convincing Our Parents to Let Us Go Out
Every person who has a sibling knows that the best way to get your parents to agree for you to go out with friends is if you strategically plan who gets to ask first. This typically involves bargaining times of arrival, times of departure and the locations of our plans.
2. Partaking in the strangest of hobbies that only the two of you would enjoy
Whether it is religiously watching a TV Show on the weekends or attending shotokan karate lessons three times a week, there's always that one thing that you enjoy doing together.
3. Taunting Each Other
There's no better way to anger your sibling than by provoking them in a playful way and not stopping when they clearly want you to back off. This was one of the more annoying parts of having a sibling, nevertheless, I'm going to miss that voice when I'm in college.
4. Having Each Other's Back
You know that you can always count on your brother to have your back in almost every situation. During the periods of moving from country to country, I knew that my brother would always be there for support, both mentally and emotionally as we began our new lives in an exotic country. Without him around, I wouldn't have been half as willing to leave a life behind in pursuit of an unknown adventure.
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5. Arguing Over the Silliest Issues
Every person who has a sibling knows all too well that fights and arguments are inevitable. You could have the perfect relationship, but every once in a while, an argument is bound to rise from an insignificant occurrence that will leave both of you bickering and upset. Although these arguments rarely occurred between the two of us, I'm going to miss the pointless fighting and the apologizing that shortly followed.
6. Shifting The Blame Onto Each Other
Why let your parents focus all of their anger onto you for your mistakes when you can bring your brother along for the ride?
7. Our Inside Jokes
This is probably the thing I'm going to miss the most about not having my brother around. It could be the lamest joke ever, but whenever you're in the same room and that event/word/joke comes up, there's no helping you two as you both burst into uncontrollable fits of laughter.
8. "Borrowing" Things From Each Other
This rings more true for me than for my brother, as I would always steal his speakers without his permission. I've come to expect that weekly knock on my door as he would walk in to retrieve them.
9. Consoling Each Other
While fighting is inevitable, comforting one another is also part of the sibling package.
10. Our Secret Handshakes/Codes/Lingo
Even though we were speaking perfect English, at times it felt like we were the only one's who could understand each other and our weird behaviors. To this day, we still have a secret handshake that we created more than a decade ago in an airport.
11. Cringing At An Awkward Family Reunion
We all have those awkward moments at a family reunion where someone makes an unusual statement and all you're left with is that uncomfortable look on your face. I'm glad I had my brother with me during those stretches of time so that I wasn't going through it alone. Having him around rendered these get-togethers to be manageable and comical rather than boring, as we would craft jokes and voice re-enactments to keep ourselves entertained.
While this is not a goodbye, it feels like I'm leaving a part of my childhood and frankly, a part of myself behind as I move away to college. If it weren't for my brother, I wouldn't be the person I am today and I'm so glad I had a built-in companion for every adventure leading up to this moment.
