My Little Brother Has a Personality??

My brother and I being four years apart means that we grew up being enemies, yet still best friends. We bickered and fist-fought, then conspired and played together. There were never-ending Nerf battles, spy missions, and infinite ways to combine Hot Wheels and Barbie at the same time. However, in the last few years, we haven’t been as close because of the fact we now have other friends. One day it wasn’t cool to hang with your sibling. While this means we don’t fight anymore, it means we don’t hang out either. 

While setting up for our interview, eighth-grader Ksamare looked in horror at my AP Microeconomics textbook and asked, “Will I have to read that?”. He seemed to grow even more anxious when I answered that he might, but it’s not cover to cover. When asked if he was excited about high school, he responded, 

“Kinda, I mean I don’t really wanna do a lot of the textbooks that you bring home but I’m also excited for sports and meeting some of the teachers you talk about”. 

I have this vision for my brother that he will love all of the aspects that I love about high school, especially my teachers and the extracurriculars I’m in. However, I realized that my brother couldn’t be more similar to me, in a completely different way. 

Naturally, I asked my brother what he was interested in and what he wanted to be when he grew up. He has always been tech-savvy, constantly playing video games, having his own YouTube channel, and trying to figure out how computers work. However, he wants to be an author one day, even though he strongly despises poetry and the fact he has two different classes for reading and writing. More specifically, he wants to write graphic novels. It makes more sense when I look back on his extensive collection of Captain Underpants, Diary of a Wimpy Kid, and Dog-Man books. 

With him being thirteen years old, most of his answers were completely unserious. I asked him where he would live if he could live anywhere in the world, and his response was, 

“Anywhere you’re not, mostly. But probably, probably Mexico. Mexico is really nice. I could learn some Spanish there”. 

He then proceeded to go on a rant about how he doesn’t understand why we have Latin over Spanish at the high school. And of course, when asked about his future goals:

“To be better than you. Also uh, let’s see, probably, sell some good books as an author. Be a really good sportsperson, I guess. Be a really good teammate in soccer, in basketball. Baseball, I guess. Be better than you mostly.” 

Although I would never admit it, he’s much better than me in many ways. He’s painfully funny, naturally athletic, and has enough computer knowledge to become a Tech Specialist. Sometimes we forget that siblings, parents, and children are people with many facets to their personalities. As I get ready to graduate and go to college, most likely out of state, I find myself sad that I will miss out on most of his high school years. I won’t get to play big sister when my advice actually matters. I know he will be just fine though. 

“Do you know where you want to go to college maybe? Possibly? Any ideas?”

“I want to go to a really good college that can help with business, film and editing, and writing. I’m not really a big fan of traveling so I’ll probably stay in Maine.”

At this point in the interview, our mom asks us what we want on our wings for dinner (buffalo or bourbon). Ksamare gets up to shout from my room our answers and we end up completely distracted and derailed. At first, I thought I’d have to find another time to get a better conclusion, but it perfectly showcases our relationship. Deep talks about life, randomly ended by a chaotic event or shift in attention. These conversations never feel “unfinished”, in fact, they always leave off right where they are supposed to be. Although he’s taller than me now, I feel comfort in knowing that not much has changed; I’ll always be his clumsy, responsible, and bossy older sister, and he will always be the class-clown, witty, and sports-driven younger brother. 

Photo Source: Dsamare24