Have you ever heard your parents say, “Be friends with your siblings; they are your only friends that will be there forever”?
That is what my mom lives by. I hear it every time us kids fights with one another. During that moment it’s hard to believe, since you have your friends that you have known for years and all.
Regardless of how close I have been with my friends, there is always a phase that I don’t see them. Friends come and go so easily and so quickly sometimes. I would go from seeing the same group every day for a few months, to not hearing from them at all. But that’s normal. It happens.
This is where my brother comes in. I am very close to my little brother. But when I say little, I should really say my big brother who just happens to be younger than me. Since many people can’t tell who the younger one is because he’s a head taller than me, I can’t really call him little.
If there is one person that I can count on, it’s him.
We are close enough in age that we share friends and hobbies often. We make road trips out to our uncle’s to go snowboarding together and have fun weekends doing one of our many hobbies.
The best part is when we share a group of friends. That way, we can all go out together and I don’t even have to drive!
I love being able to go out with my brother and know that at the end of the night, no matter what happens, I have someone who is going to be there for me.
A friend could get mad and leave you, or just straight up not have your back. When it’s your brother, if he went home without you, mom would have a fit. Right?
There have been many times that a friend gets mad at someone else. When in those crossfires, you need someone to be with you.
Several years ago I remember going home early because one of my friends was being mean to me. I cried to my mother about it, and she called up my brother so fast to yell at him for not standing up for me. Ever since that day, if anyone starts to pick on me, he tells them to stop.
It’s kind of funny to think about that day since it has been so many years. But that was the end of our brother-sister fights and the beginning of our friendship.
He isn’t my only sibling, although we are probably the closest. I have another brother and a sister, both younger. They are much younger, too young to share friends or too many hobbies.
They are both in that fighting stage right now. They say how much they hate each other and are always arguing, just like we were. I sometimes wonder if I had been that bad.
But then I hear my mom say that same line again, “Be friends with your siblings, they are your only friends that will be there forever.”
KAT SHINDLEDECKER
