By the time this article is out, my brother will be 18 years old. This is crazy to me because mentally, my brother is still in middle school. My brother, John, is 14 months younger than me so we were always pretty close in age, being just one grade level apart our entire lives. Knowing that we are so close in age and actually recognizing it are two different concepts. It shocks me to see that he turned 18 yesterday, Nov. 7. In honor of this, I thought it might be fun to tell you some of my favorite memories with my brother, in no particular order of favoritism.Â
Sledding
Starting off strong with one of my favorite stories to tell, and one that might be a little painful for my brother has to do with the many times we would go sledding in our backyard together. We were still young at the time of this story, when I wanted to sled down a particular path in our hilly backyard, but before I could go, I noticed my brother sitting in the middle of where I wanted to go. So, I asked him to move so I wouldn’t hit him. He refused to move, and from my memory claimed, I wouldn’t hit him. I sled down the path and may or may not have run him over. He’s alive now and didn’t suffer any major injuries.Â
Another fond sledding memory I have is a day during the Covid-19 pandemic. I don’t know where our parents were, but it was my final period study hall, and my brother had just finished his science class. We were definitely supposed to work on homework together, but instead we found ourselves outside with coats and sleds. We sled down the icy and snowy driveway for a good hour or so before going back inside. I had a lot of fun sledding, and it was a great way to destress. I would argue that recognizing when I need to destress is one of my brother’s greatest talents, which I’ve been so lucky to have growing up.Â
My Brother’s NameÂ
John is a very common name, it is a name that my brother shares with both of our grandpas, a distant uncle or two, and my boyfriend. It makes sense that his name in my phone is different depending on where it is. Snapchat has “Brother John”, and iMessage has gone through “Timmy Tommy” to “Crackhead Jmac”. He’s had it all when it comes to contact photos, a yearbook photo from kindergarten suited the contact name “Crackhead Jmac” since I was in middle school and stuck around.Â
November 16, 2018
It was a Friday where school had been canceled due to snow and my brother had a few of his closest friends over to our house. They were naturally lobbying for a sleepover that my mom was not in favor of. It was about 7 p.m. when my brother’s friends decided to recruit me for their cause. Their idea: I was to do their makeup and teach them the basics of makeup. I was an older sister, but I had no real experience with makeup, and I made this abundantly clear before we started. My mom was getting impatient with their antics, and they were trying every trick in the books to get this sleepover. It was then that my brother suggested I do his liquid eyeliner. There were two problems with the result. One, I had never picked up an eyeliner pencil nor a liquid eyeliner, and two, I was not allowed anywhere near his eyes where the eyeliner was supposed to go. I have to give them all credit they paraded out of the house smiling and laughing about their new makeup looks that were nowhere near full five stars, but it’s something that never fails to make me smile when I think back on it and see pictures from the day.
Baseball Tournaments
My brother’s favorite sport to play is baseball. He’s currently in his freshman year at Grove City College in Pennsylvania to play a sport he loves while attending college and I’m so proud of him for that. Growing up, a lot of my time was spent going to baseball games and tournaments. I got my first period at a Memorial Day tournament, which was so fun to navigate on top of being surrounded by mostly men. About a month after the tournament, my mom was giving me a chocolate bar and my brother was complaining that I was getting something, and he wasn’t. The shock and confusion that went through explaining that I bleed once a month and not once a year was something that took me by surprise but also makes me giggle thinking about the response both my mom and I gave him of “I wish it was that way”.
There are many more memories baked into every Christmas ever, going on family trips, and I’m sure countless amounts of petty arguments and mini fights as all siblings have. However, I’m still endlessly proud of my younger brother and can’t wait to see where life takes him. Happy belated birthday to my darling brother, I hope you had fun and don’t want to kill me for these stories!