Big Brother

And no, I'm not referring to the horrible reality television show that plagues cable TV ... I'm talking about the role of older siblings.

I'm fortunate enough to have a fraternal twin brother, and a younger sister by about 6.5 years. I'm the oldest brother, by 3 minutes. Not a big difference, right? Well, so you'd think.

Though my brother and I are twins, we couldn't be more different. We've chosen many different paths in our lives, including studies of choice - biology vs. engineering, friendships, and hobbies. Yet at the same time, we do have quite a few things in common - love of music, eagerness to learn, and growing up in the same household, surprisingly, brought us pretty close together. Though it wasn't always that way. It took some sort of epiphany sometime around mid-sophomore year of college to make us both realize how much we really missed each other. Being together 17+ years of your life does that to you, I guess. We have our disagreements, but I wouldn't have it any other way. He's definitely the middle child.

That leaves me as the oldest - crazy responsibility, and my sister as the baby. No offense to the rest of my immediate family, but she's my favorite. Perhaps it's because I took to the 'protective older brother' role as soon as my little sister was born. I feel I had, and still have, a large personal investment in her upbringing, maturing, etc., which makes me even more willing to help her out and spoil her all at once.

But it's definitely not a one-sided deal. Though she doesn't know it, and I have no idea if she'll read this, she's helped me along in life probably more than the other members of my family. Perhaps this sounds ridiculously dramatic, but my sister is one of my biggest reasons to keep going, or, in true Hispanic drama-sense, one of my biggest reasons to live. She's provided me with inspiration when times seemed their darkest, though she probably doesn't realize it. There's something about her, along with being my little sister, that drives me to want to love and protect her as much as possible. Something intangible. I'm not quite sure what it is, but I do know that I'm a very proud older brother, for many, many reasons, and will continue to be there for her as much as I possibly can. This manifests itself in many ways, either as a chauffeur, a cook, a bodyguard, a clown, or even as a pretend exorcist-girl trying to invade her room. Don't ask, love has no bounds.