Hello to all of my faithful. The last check, that was 7 of you. Woohoo!!!!! Since I only have 1 sibling, this can’t all be family, so I thank you all!!!!!!

I am five and a half years older than my younger brother. It was just the two of us growing up in a typical 70/80/90 household, complete with the parents divorcing during our teenage years. We were the typical GenX kids.

Believe it or not, I remember my mother talking to me about having a new brother or sister. I don’t know if this was before she was pregnant or after she found out, but I was so excited. I couldn’t wait to meet this new best friend they created for me. There are pictures of me holding him the day he came home. I was in a white turtleneck, green corduroy pants, and my hair in 2 braids. I was so happy and excited; I couldn’t wait until he got older. I still remember him waking up as a newborn, my mother sticking her head in my doorway to make sure I wasn’t awake and pretending I was asleep. I would fall asleep listening to my tone-deaf mother singing sweetly to my brother “Close to You” by The Carpenters.

“On the day that you were born the angels got together
And decided to create a dream come true
So they sprinkled moon dust in your hair of gold
And starlight in your eyes of blue

That is why all the girls in town
Follow you all around
Just like me, they long to be
Close to you”

And then there was my Dad, who in true dad fashion, used to sing this to my brother when he would hold him.

Go to sleep, little creep

Before I punch you in your little feet

No, that wasn’t a threat. Believe it or not, it was sung as sweetly as a 28-year-old steelworker from Baltimore could muster.

We were in the same elementary school for about a year as we got older. He was in kindergarten while I was in 5th grade. Now, this was in 82-83, so schools were still doing half-day kindergarten. However, my brother was reading and doing math at an elevated level, so he would have lunch and then sit with an older class in the afternoon. The only issue was no one was there to supervise my brother. So, he would come up to my classroom to visit. I got to leave class and walk him down to where he was supposed to be. Although I acted frustrated, I secretly thought it was fantastic.

Throughout school, he was the yang to my ying. I never had detention or was suspended. He did both many times. One of my favorite times was on the school bus, and a kid sat on his lunch after my brother warned him there was a piece of birthday cake in the lunch, so don’t sit on it, and the kid plopped down as hard as he could. This kid was a bit of a bully and a year older, but my brother taught him a lesson and got suspended. The school sent my brother home on the school bus that day, and my Dad asked him, “Who won?” When my brother said, unblinkingly, that he had, it was the one time my brother didn’t get in as much trouble as always.

As you can see, we built a great foundation as kids. Our rooms were next to each other, and on Christmas Eve, we would sleep on our floors in sleeping bags and talk to each other through the vent. It is one of my favorite memories with him.

As we have grown, even though we don’t have the closeness I had imagined when my mother told me I was about to get a sibling, I know he is always someone I can count on, and I hope he feels the same way. He has been there to catch me when I fell, has helped me move multiple times, and has always opened his home to spend time with his daughters.

I don’t come from a super demonstrative family; we don’t say I love you a lot, hug, or even tell each other we miss each other, even though we are all a distance from each other. But I know he would be there for me in a minute, and I hope he knows the same. So even though we don’t say it often, let me tell the world.

I am grateful you are my brother, and I love you!!!

Signed your big sister, who will always be there for you!