Sisterly Love.
It has come to my attention in the past few years that my brother and I are closer than we ever were before, perhaps this has to do with the fact that for the past seven years we haven’t actually lived together as I live in S. Carolina with my mom and he was living with my dad in Kansas. Age also plays a factor here because I remember when we were younger how we use to argue and fight over the dumbest of things, calling each other stupid and retarded and just being flat out mean; I don’t really think we are any different from any other brother/sister out there as those that have siblings know you argue/fight sometimes, and I don’t think we argued or fought any more or less than other people, so I suppose you could say we were normal.
However, in the recent year my brother has had a very hard time. He graduated high school by the skin of his teeth this past May and got into situations (ie: smoking pot, drinking) that were very unlike him, I felt bad because he didn’t really have anyone around him to support him as both him and me don’t have a great relationship with our dad but our step-mom plays into that a lot. He tried his hardest to do what was right by my dad and by him, working part-time, trying to get class work done but always seemed to hit those spots where he’d fall…skip class, smoke pot, come home at late hours of the night. All I could offer him were words of encouragement from afar and I tried my best to do so, but you can’t really help someone that does not want to be helped.
I talked to my brother last night via AIM (that’s how we usually talk) and it was a good conversation. I think he is finally realizing that he may just have to move back to South Carolina, despite not wanting too; see my dad, step-mom and sister moved to another city because they bought a house, my dad gave my brother the option to go with them or stay at the trailer (which is where they lived previously since they own it) all he had to do was pay the lot payment, trailer payment and any other bills (electric, Internet, etc) because my brother never gave my dad a yes or no answer to moving with them my dad made the decision for him and told him to stay…since then my brother has tried his hardest to make sure bills were paid on time and that he had enough money to cover everything. Once or twice, he came up short and didn’t have enough money to pay all the bills so he’d ask my dad for assistance in which my dad would give him a nonchalant kind of answer, my mom tried to help as best she could. I give my brother credit for trying his hardest because I know it can’t be easy…I have yet to live on my own at the age of 21 but by the same token, I chose to take the college route rather than the live on my own & start my life by myself route.
We also spoke about the current situation between him and Lauren (his ex-girlfriend but not so ex-girlfriend). For the first time ever, I see my brother as a caring and sweet guy that has feelings for a girl…the words he spoke to me about the situation were unlike any words I have ever heard come from my brother before, I was quite surprised to be honest with you. I guess I never really knew how much my brother has grown up and matured in the last few years because we’ve been apart and not around each other, of course we still have our moments when we visit a few times out of the year but we’re a lot closer than we’ve ever been and I am grateful for that.
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