I was blessed to grow up with my brother. He was about 4 years older than me. He teased me. He punched me to get the remote control or the last devil dog. His friends stole my food too, sitting on me and making me watch them eat the sandwich I had just made. He was loud. When it was the two of us and my parents, I couldn’t get a word in no matter how hard I tried. He would sit and read the magazines with cars for sale and make us all listen. That annoyed the crap out of me. I remember when he shut the door of the Dodge Caravan on my fingers.

It was definitely a joy to have him as my brother. It was a joy because this is the stuff that siblings do to each other! They also teach us. Having Mike as my older brother taught me how to get along with others, no matter how they treated me. It taught me how to stand up for myself. It taught me that, even when you know you did nothing wrong, someone will probably always think you did. It taught me that there was someone looking out for me even when I didn’t know it. It taught me that you can fight with someone and still love them more than anything in the world.

My brother was taken too early. He was only with us for 31 years. In that time, he left his mark. That’s for sure. He was kind, smart, handsome, generous, and above all else funny as heck.

Tonight I heard my girls upstairs making way too much noise considering that their brothers were sleeping. At first, I asked them to quiet down. Then, I let it go. I let it go and listened. I listened to the silly giggles that turned into outright snorting. I thought about how precious it is to have a sibling, right there with you, laughing with you, sharing a joke, a bond. Those girls fight SO MUCH. They also laugh. They get along. They are best friends. I am pretty certain they don’t yet know that they are each other’s best friend, but someday I have hope they will. I cherish every stupid memory I have of my brother.

31 years goes by in flash. The 15 years today that he has been gone seems like a whole different lifetime. I may have gotten cut short on the sibling stuff, but I now get to see my 4 children fight like crazy, but then also know EXACTLY how to make each other laugh. That’s definitely the good stuff. Cherish that my friends, cherish that.