Ode to a brother

My twin and I were shocked to find out that the “Bianca Yu Tantoco” we had been waiting nine months for was actually a little boy staring at us from the hospital nursery. I was a bit disappointed and angry that I did not get the new sister that I was hoping to make into my next Barbie doll. Taking a second look at what I’d be calling my “brother” for the rest of my life, I observed the serene and self-assured look on his face. Unlike the other wrinkly, scared, crying babies around him, my brother seemed so laid-back and confident. With his eyes closed, he gave us a sly grin.

When my brother was a toddler, he put enormous effort into trying to fit in with us twins. It was hard for him to break into our “girl world,” and we would make it even more difficult for him by devising underhanded schemes to get him out of our room. Of course, we would get into loads of trouble for trying to shoo our brother away. We would often find ourselves grounded for cutting his hair, breaking his Power Ranger tapes, locking him in the closet and many other naughty things. Eventually, we learned to accept our brother into our world and we learned to love his unique, quirky ways. 

At first, Christian would imitate the qualities that he liked in Nicole and me. This act of his would annoy us but after awhile we would use it our advantage. We would send him on great escapades in search of junk food and toys while my twin and I continued with our girly games. Later on, my brother started to develop a personality of his own. He had an innate sense of humor that would make us laugh until tears came out of our eyes. We started to love his company and we stopped sending him away. There developed a strong bond among the three of us that was reinforced when we all transferred to a school that we had a hard time adjusting to.

Every lunch and dismissal time, the three of us siblings would look for each other and hang out together. We would complain about annoying teachers, classmates and huge piles of homework to each other. Once, my brother even asked me, “Camille, how do you make friends?” To this, I laughed and tried to give the best advice I could. My brother ended up having more friends than me! I used to do my little brother’s homework for him all the time and I would beam whenever he got an “A” for it. Now, I see my brother making well-organized, beautiful projects all by himself.

I used to shoo my brother away but now I am the one who tries to tag along with him even when he is with his friends. I see my brother less and less as he becomes taller than me and his voice deepens. I’ve watched him transform from Matt McGuire (from Lizzie McGuire) to Nathan Scott and I know that pretty teenage girls will be all over him. In some way, it saddens me that my brother doesn’t seem to need me anymore. It is more like I need him; however, we still keep our tight sibling bond and we relive the dumb, little adventure games we used to play when we were younger.

I can’t believe in a few weeks he will be a teen!