A Brother Abroad

Paul and I are six years apart, while Mike and I are only separated by three years.

How does this influence our relationships?

For Paul, I was the annoying little sister who often told on him and got tangled in his cross hairs at every opporunity (examples of which will provide future blogs).

With Mike, we tended to annoy each other, or team up in annoying Paul.

Long car rides were a blast.

So, it came as a complete shock when Paul, a senior in college, strode into our living room, actually noticed I existed (with my mouth full of braces) and said: "Let's go."

I rolled my eyes (as is a favorite past-time of 15 year olds), assuming he was demanding I help him with some chore or something. So, I just sat there and performed my second favorite past-time: ignoring him.

"Fine," he said, "Don't let me teach you how to drive."

Huh?

I don't think my feet touched the ground as I tore down the stairs...disbelieving that the brother I had figured never gave much thought to me, had thought enough to do what no one else had dared.

We spent the next hour driving around Governor's Island, trying to get a feel for "my lane", and even laughing a bit.

I'll never forget it. It was the first time I looked at him as someone other than my grumpy older brother.

This is Day 29.