My Bro!

I'm pretty sure this is the only picture in existence of my brother and I when we are both over the age of 12. More importantly, it's one of the very few pictures in which he's smiling, and not making a face at the camera. (Something he is infamous for.) This picture was taken in November of 2008. I was 17 and he was just about to turn 20. It's strange to think, and somehow I just realized, that my brother is 20 in this picture. That's how old I am right now. Hm. My brother and I have been through quite a bit in our lives, most fighting and name calling (to the extreme) once we hit our teenage years. I know that once my emotions took full control of me once I turned 15, he was bitter towards me. My relationship with my brother has always saddened me. I think back to the days of Snorlax beanies, Grimmy, Louis, Barbie cars, radio shows on the voice recorder, fighting over who was to open the first present on Christmas (until my parents decided to give us each a small present to rip open at the same time!), hilarious dinner table stories, and of course, "Can I have a dollar?" All of these things are such prominent pieces of my life, and I truly cherish them. My brother will always be my brother, but I feel as if I've missed out on so much of us being siblings in recent years. I love him so much. I wish he could see that I'm not the annoying little 12 year old girl that I used to be (Nick, if you ever read this, this is proof! I admit it! I was an annoying little kid!) I always wished I had the kind of relationship with my brother that my friends have with theirs. I want to be able ask my brother for advice on things, and talk about the nerdy things we both enjoy. I want to be able to invite him to go places with me without it being awkward. (Then again, I AM an awkward person... so most things turn out that way.) I want to be able to hug him without him freaking out, or even worse, just standing there while I DO hug him. I will admit, things have gotten better over the last few months. His birthday is coming up in just over a month from now, I'm trying to think of something awesome to make him again this year. (This is what I made him last year! It's a 'quilted' 8 bit Link that I then sewed on to dark green fleece for a blanket!) Well, that concludes my vent-sesh about my brother!

My Brother, Nick

This is my brother, Nick, and I. This picture was taken in November of 2008, and it was the first picture we had of JUST us since we were under the age of ten. Our relationship has been quite the rocky one, especially throughout my mid-teen years. In the last year or so, though, things have gotten so much better between us. We are actually talking, and not just when we have to. My brother is the king of "Meh" (seriously, I got him a black shirt with white writing that just says "meh." on it!) so pretty much every time you try to talk to him, it starts with a shrug of his shoulders, and ends with "meh" and then he walks away. Recently, though, we have been getting along a lot better, andddd he will actually engage in a conversation with me. Then today I went to his bedroom door, and asked if he wanted to walk down to Mcdonalds and get some snacks with the six bucks I had. He surprisingly said "Yeah sure, cool" or something along those lines. So we walked down to Mcdonalds (it's only like a two block walk) and we talked the entire way there! It was really cool. We talked about movies, since he works at the theater, and we agreed that James Cameron is a sell out for re-releasing Titanic in 3-D next year (Mr. Cameron... HOW COULD YOUUU?!) I got him a double cheeseburger (he insisted he didn't want anything else) and fries and a root beer for myself. He thanked me, and we walked back to my mom's place and again, we talked (this time mostly) the whole way home. When we got inside I thanked him for walking down there with me, and said "Oh of course, thanks for the cheeseburger!" (again, or something along those lines). It's really nice that we are building up an "adult relationship" so-to-speak. I'm glad that we are able to only somewhat awkwardly walk to Mcdonalds together!