Big Brother Best Friend

Apart from some details, such as the fact that my brother is younger than me and we're still just as close as we always were, this pretty much perfectly describes me and my brother.

Since we're 8 years apart in age, around the age that he was starting to get to be able to have conversations with me, I was getting into one of the roughest periods of time in my life. In my first school, I was unpopular, but I had a couple of friends. But when I moved to a new school for grade 5, I ended up with no friends my own age, and more intense bullying than ever. I did have younger friends in my school, but when, at grade 7, I had to start homeschooling, I lost what friends I'd had.

For a period of several years, from 13 to 20, my brother and his friends were my only friends. I convinced myself that I didn't need friends - all I needed was for people not to pick on me - but deep down, I did feel lonely. I remember one joint birthday party (my brother and I were born two days apart) where plenty of his friends showed up, but the only couple people I decided to invite didn't show up. Many of the people there didn't realize it was my birthday too, and the only one who'd brought me a present was a three year old sibling who gave me a teddy bear.

Recently, in university, I made some friends of my own. But then I had to move away, and now I feel lonelier than ever, because I know what I'm missing. I haven't been able to find new friends, and now I'm back to hanging out only with kids much younger than me.

But my brother is always there for me. He and I remain very close. We play the same games and watch the same videos, and both of us confide our feelings to each other. With his depression, I'm often the best one to comfort him. And when I'm feeling down, he's the one who consistently shows support for me.

I hope that no matter where my future takes me, my brother and I will always be close.