Wednesday, March 27, 2013

Happy Birthday, Little Bro!

My little younger brother turns 17 today. YIKES.

I am in no way okay with this. Not one bit. 

Andrew and I are 5 years apart. I was ridiculously excited to have a little sibling. My parents said I used to sit in the rocking chair in his room before he was born with my baby dolls "practicing rocking my baby brother". I was obsessed with that guy when he was born. I always wanted to hold him, rock him. help mom bathe him, feed him, etc. 

Then he started speaking.

It was all downhill from there. We bickered constantly. Being 5 years apart, we were just always in different life stages so we never understood each other. Even thought we argued constantly (my poor parents...), I would do anything to protect him. The only year we were ever in the same school, he was in Kindergarten and I was in 5th grade. Some older kids were picking on him for being little (he really was a tiny squirt then) and I took care of that one realllll quick. 

Terrible quality, but he was ADORABLE.

This arguing lasted pretty much all of my "growing up" years. He constantly tried to get me in trouble and usually succeeded. And if we weren't fighting, then we weren't speaking. 

Side story: See that teeny, tiny motorcycle up there? He was about 4 years old and that's the smallest bike they make. One day we were riding in my grandfather's field and there's a smal trail. I was following him on a four-wheeler and he stopped quickly which caused me to run over him. I literally ran over his bike, touched his helmet and rolled back down. I begged him not to tell dad and he promised not to. Before I even got back to the house, dad knew. SURPRISE, SURPRISE.

Then everything changed. My family went through some things and Andrew and I really had to learn to get along. Plus, with me being out of the house and him getting older and experiencing more things, we could relate to each other much better. He had a serious relationship around the time I started dating Christian, so we could talk about that kind of stuff together. 

Now, he knows he can always come to me when he needs to talk and mom and dad just won't cut it. And I know that he'll always have my back no matter what. 

I still drive him absolutely crazy and I'm sure he wants to just smack me sometimes. For example:

He also races dirtbikes and it scares me so badly knowing that he can get seriously hurt every time he goes into the woods. It's also very nerve-wracking that you can't see him while he's racing. You only get to see them as they pass by every 15-30 minutes. But, he's great at it and he loves it so I try not to freak out as much as I can. 

Last weekend's race. Stopped twice because of mud and still got 4th!

So, happy 17th birthday little bro! Enjoy it, because you're not allowed to age anymore!

1 comment:

Andy Gregory said...
