When they are asked, most siblings from the ages of eight to 14 years old will claim to have a deep-set aversion to their brothers or sisters.
Because I grew up with a brother who was two years older than me and the size of a door, I understand that it can be tough; when picked on, you feel you have to pick right back. As a child, I never would have admitted to having the barest fondness for the big, awkward lug that is my brother. Now that I think back on it, I remember all of the tender moments, too.
I hadn’t realized this when it came time for my brother and I to naturally grow apart and go our separate ways. My brother has always been a social creature, so it didn’t cross my mind when he started going out for longer hours, working at a farm down the road and, dare I say it, dating.
Being the younger sibling, I was still caught up in a childhood phase and I expected him to be there, too.
Then, a little more than three years ago, my brother came home and told my family that he had spoken to a recruiter about joining the Marines. Still, nothing changed for me. At that age, I knew very little about the military. I couldn’t wrap my head around the fact that for the next five years, at the very least, I would be seeing a lot less of my brother.
Upon the arrival of the day that he was going away for an extended period of time, I said goodbye to not only my brother, but also my childhood.
Now, three years into his service, I still haven’t seen him for more than a collective six months.
It’s at this moment that I wish I would have a little more treasured our short childhood together. I’m realizing that my annoying, loud, bossy brother wasn’t just a brother, but one of my closest friends.
I only wish that it hadn’t taken a six-to-nine month deployment to make me understand that.
I’m writing this to all of the people who still have their siblings nearby, whether that gap is closed by age or space. While they might be a little too close for comfort now, they won’t be when they’re halfway across the country, or even across oceans.
When your siblings, who may now seem only motivated by the task of pestering you, start to do great things, have their hearts broken and long for the next time that they can come home, you’ll understand that there are fewer people more important than them.
If you have siblings, treat them well, aside from still making sure they know who’s boss.
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