Sibling relationships are interesting, to say the least. You’re constantly fighting over who knows what, incessantly chastising each other, butting heads over just about everything — but yet, you would defend them to the death if anyone else tried to mess with them. Most of my senior year, the final remark in any of our arguments was that neither of us could wait until I left for college. We’d finally be able to escape the sarcastic remarks and jabs that were being exchanged.
The first few weeks of college were great, and as sad as it may sound, I wasn’t missing my brother yet. I could finally listen to the music I wanted without hearing him complain that it was too loud or just horrible in general. I could say anything without expecting to be made fun of by him. I’m sure he also didn’t miss me constantly pointing out how lazy he was or telling him to stop playing the piano while I was trying to watch television.
But when I came home for Thanksgiving break, something weird happenedk —we got along. There was very little fighting and we actually had great conversations about school life, and just about everything else. My brother had his first girlfriend and he was asking me for advice about his relationship! It was almost as if we missed each other… or something like that.
Now that I’m in my third year of college and my brother is a freshman, we talk on a regular basis about anything and everything. He finally has added me on Snapchat and regularly updates me with snaps of our pets back home or some cute girl he saw at school today. I call him up and he’ll rant to me or just talk about his day. It seems as though we have finally taken the step towards being friends and not just obligatory siblings.
College seems to be a growing experience for both parties. You spend your entire life with someone who you love to fight with, and then when you finally spend some time apart you realize there are other ways to interact. I don’t know if my relationship with my brother is unique, but I’m sure many other people fight with their siblings on a regular basis. It becomes almost a habit to pick a fight over something stupid. But now that I don’t have my brother around 24/7, I take full advantage of the interactions we do have. It seems that distance truly does make the heart grow fonder.
Sibling relationships are one of a kind. Aside from your parents, your sibling is one of those people who are going to be there for you for the rest of your life. You have friends that you make in college that you swear you’ll meet up with once a year regardless of where you end up, but life happens and things don’t always end up as planned. Siblings, however, are going to see you when you visit your parents for Christmas or Thanksgiving. They’re obligated to be there for you so you might as well take advantage of that. One of the things my mom has told me is that she wished she had maintained a better relationship with her brothers. She’s now reconnecting with them and it’s amazing to see how happy she is about the whole situation. If I have one piece of advice for anyone with a sibling, it would probably be to befriend them. They know so much about you and, regardless of what you think, they genuinely care about you.