My Brother

So a couple years ago my brother got this crazy idea in his head that he was going to join the military. Nah, I'm kidding, I'm proud of him. He's been gone for SO long though that it's been weird to think about what he does in a day. I, unfortunately, missed out on his basic training graduation, which I feel bad for, but I had some personal matters that I needed to take care of back at home. He's been doing so well though, making tons of friends, experiencing so many new things, and seeing parts of the world he probably wouldn't have seen otherwise.

Before he left he and I used to have these long conversations about anything and everything. I'd usually go into his room at night and we'd chat about work, school, boyfriends, girlfriends, just all sorts of random stuff. Sometimes we'd be mad at each other at the end, sometimes we loved each other even more, but it kept us close. Even if we did end up fighting within a couple days we'd be right back at the same ol' conversations. It was nice. Then while he's been gone I'd moved in with Larry and went on living my life, just as he lived the new parts of his. Well throughout the years he kept saying he would plan all these trips to come out, sometimes he and I would try and plan surprises so I'd go pick him up at the airport and we'd surprise our mom with his visit, but they'd always fall through for some reason or another. It got to the point where I almost didn't want to know about visits till he was on the plane because it was SO heartbreaking thinking I was going to be seeing my brother soon and then find out it wasn't happening.

Well this year we got super lucky and he told us he finally got an approved leave and he was able to come out for about 3 weeks. I was ECSTATIC! That was until I realized between school and work I'd probably only see him like 3 days so I figured I'd just have to make the most of the 3 days I did see him.

Things definitely started out rough, I mean it'd been like 2 years since we'd seen each other, he's grown up, he's now 21! He's not a teenager. I'm 23, I'M not a teenager, we've become little adults on our own and we'd changed...A LOT! We definitely had to get used to the new people we'd become. But after a few harder visits I finally sat him down and we had a little conversation like we used to and I got to understand a little more of why he was the way he is now and he got to see how much I really miss him and love him and how proud I want to be of him and be able to share with other people! I AM very proud of him, just to be clear, and nothing will ever change that.

Another unfortunate part is his trip went by way too fast and we had to say goodbye on Thursday to him. Mom, him, and I all went out to Applebees for lunch before she had to take him to the airport and then we said our goodbyes. It was almost emotional, but he promised he was going to try his hardest to be back out for Christmas, so we're really hoping he can be. I'll be done with my current classes then so I'll actually be able to see him a lot more if he can come out then. Here's to hoping we do get to see him then!

Our last pictures together:

Mom and her son

We really were sad, even if you can't
See it in our expressions ;)