Always, No Matter What

My little brother is 13 years younger than me. He will be 5 in the summer. When he first came into my life I had the worst attitude toward the situation. It was about two years after my mom had gotten remarried and because I wasn't used to having a father around my step-dad and I didn't get along at first. One day they took me into another room while we had some family over and told me, "You're going to have a little brother or sister." I was shocked and started crying (I was 13 and didn't want to think about it because it made me feel really awkward around my step-dad. I was young and immature.) Anyway, months passed and I struggled with my emotions until one day my mom thought she was going into labor. She dropped me off at my grandma's to stay there overnight because I had previously let them know, with probably too much enthusiasm, that I absolutely did NOT want to be there for the birth. (Again, this was just hard for me to handle, especially at that age and with everything that had been going on.)

Well, I woke up the next morning and when my grandma saw that I was awake she came into the room, smiling. "Guess what?" she said. "You have a little brother." Those words have stayed in a special place in my heart from that day forward and just writing them brings tears to my eyes. Suddenly, I became very excited and kept asking when we could go see him. When we got to the hospital and I held him for the first time, I knew my life would never be the same again. But as I looked down at the adorable 8lb 1oz bundle of joy in my arms, I could not imagine what was to come.

The relationship that we have grows stronger each day and I love him so much. He seems so grown up already and it's hard to believe that just 4 and a half years ago he was a tiny baby. He is so silly sometimes and we have so much fun. The moments I've spent with him have been some of the greatest of my life and I hope he understands that I will be there for him.

ALWAYS, NO MATTER WHAT