run for your children for your sisters and brothers

day four - your sibling.

i remember being in the hospital room days after you were born, munching on graham crackers and sipping apple juice. in the shaky home video the nurse walks into the frame to wheel your little crib back to the nursery, and you can hear the panic in my voice as i ask why are they taking him away?

we've been separated in one way or another ever since i started high school when you were still in fifth grade. but despite this distance it's always been you and me versus the world, with our jokes and our arguments and fake karate kicks and hugs that are tighter than we want to admit. you're a freshman in college now but in my head you're still my baby brother, who i'd make up imaginary universes with, who i'd recite all the words to toy story with, who i'd always lose to in video games.

they say friends come and go, but family lasts forever. and while the jury's still out on the first part, nothing can convince me that the second isn't true. there's no one else i'd put my dukes up for. you and me for life, bro - that's a fact.