Thursday 2 April 2015

A - Z Challenge - B is for Brothers

My theme for this challenge is loosely based on family and relations. 


Brother – “A male having the same parents as another person”

I have two brothers.  Both are older than me, one by seven years, the other by twelve years.  The big gaps between us meant that we were not particularly close when growing up.  For a start, they were both at school when I arrived.  I was also the much longed for daughter, born on my father’s birthday, so definitely spoiled to a degree and I’m sure my brothers may have felt resentful.  As we grew older we never mixed in the same circles and we grew further apart.  Having said that, I know that if I needed to I could call on them for help and they would respond.  We’ve never had any major fallings out.  We are just distant.  My brothers are not even particularly close with one another.  We speak infrequently, mostly instigated by me and see each other rarely. 


I find this hard as my husband’s family are very different and much closer.  As I’ve grown older I’ve become more accepting of this situation.  I can only be me, my brothers can only be the people they are.  I cannot make them into something they are not.  It saddens me because I have tried to maintain the links between us but now with both our parents deceased there is less to glue us together.


My sons seem to have a much closer brotherly relationship, probably because they were born only 23 months apart and have much more in common, including friends.  Long may it continue.

3 comments:

  1. It is sad but as you have said you can only do so much. At least you have never fallen out and the situation is purly becasue of the large age gaps I think. Even the boys have quite a gap between them.

    Take some consolation in the fact that they would be there for you if you needed them. Also that your own 2 are much closer.

    xx

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  2. When I was growing up, and in a way still now, I longed for a brother but maybe it wouldn't have turned out as I expected anyway. I do have a sister and we are quite close.

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  3. I like how you have accepted the situation as it is. That's the best we can do, I think. :) I have a younger brother; our age gap is 2.5 years. We were much closer as kids, but we grew increasingly distant around high school. Over the past few years we've been trying to be more open with one another but there's still a lot of distance. I'm not sure exactly what the cause is. But like you, I accept the situation and am grateful that we haven't fallen out either. :)

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