Here’s something you may not know– my brother lives in this town. Admittedly, he wasn’t really a factor in my moving here, but he is here… so there it is.
For the first time in my life, I am trying to build a relationship with a sibling I have never been particularly close to. It’s a small town; it would be weird if I didn’t connect with him, but the impetus in this isn’t external social pressure; it’s his wife. She’s a nice person, and stays in contact, and has offered to babysit the girls. Both she and my brother are great with children, and I feel it would be a positive experience for them to be in the girls lives.
What’s the catch? Me. I’m the catch. I want to build a relationship, but this requires leaving mountains of baggage at the door. There’s a reason we were never close growing up– several, actually. When I think of my brother (well, this one anyway, I have 3) I think of a loudmouth screaming at the television and tormenting me at the dinner table. He’d tease me until I cried, telling me I was fat, and stupid, and correcting every fat, stupid word that came out of my mouth. So I didn’t like him, couldn’t stand him, for most, if not all, of my formative years.
Add to that, out of the 5 of us, he’s always been Mom’s favorite, and me, her least favorite, so we were probably destined at birth to dislike each other. We don’t dislike each other now, but I feel like we’re strangers. It’s difficult; there’s a severe lack of common ground. We’ve got DNA, and this town, but that’s it. I studied art, he studied business, he’s a sports fanatic while I have virtually no interest; I have kids, he doesn’t (and doesn’t want to have any), he makes great money, I make no money. He likes to talk about financial markets, television, and politics, I like to talk about travel, the outdoors, and how hilarious my children were when they were babies and spoke like pirates with emphysema.
But I guess if we’re to be BFFs, I’ll have to broaden my horizons…
Do you get along with your sibs?
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