Oh Brother

I think that at this point in my life, I've gotten the hang of living with four sisters pretty well.  I'm a girl so of course I know how we think, I'm the oldest so naturally that makes me the most perceptive and understanding of all my siblings, and I've had twenty-one years (yikes, that long?) of being a big sister to figure out how my sisters work and think.

What I'm discovering that I do not quite have the hang of yet... is living with brothers. It's really only hit me in the last six months or so that boys are totally different than girls.  I've had a younger brother for almost fifteen years now, but honestly when they are younger they really weren't that different from having little sisters.  Aside from burping and making other obnoxious bodily noises more and finding it hysterical, and running around making sound effects.

I don't know about y'all, but I think boys are confusing.  Maybe it's just teenage boys, because my Knight has not been that hard to figure out.  Maybe it's brothers that are confusing.  I'm not really sure.  But it is definitely different.

There are days when he can be the most arrogant jerk that ever walked the face of this earth.  Unlike my sisters and I, whatever mood he is in seems to be the mood that sticks with him all day long rather than changing by the hour, so when I am at home and he's on a jerk day, there is nothing I want to do more than punch his face through the wall.  I don't know how my mom and the sisters that are home more than I am put up with him.

When Brother #1 began developing the symptoms of being a teenage guy, we were told that this was normal and pretty much all boys are a pain in the rear at this stage in life and we should expect physical expressions of anger - something foreign to a bunch of girls who prefer using their tongues over their arms when they get ticked off.  We were warned that it is quite common for boys to punch a hole in the wall, or punch their brothers, or punch anything.

But then there are days where he's awesome and I remember why I kind of like having a brother more than having sisters. Because on a good day, he is more or less in a great mood all day long, he is very agreeable, he starts my car for me, he'll run into the other room to grab something, he is fun to talk to and be around, and did I mention he gives really great neck and shoulder rubs? His gentleness could use a little work, but I have perpetually chronically knotted shoulders so having someone with as strong of hands as he has rub my shoulders feels great.

I really don't understand brothers.  I don't understand how someone can be in a bad mood all day long, or how they can manage to be in a good mood all day long.  I don't understand why he can be so convicted of his own opinion sometimes that it would literally be easier to get a rock to talk to me.  I can't say that I understand why he does things the way he does sometimes, or what on earth his thought processes was when doing it.

Brothers are different, and I suppose that is okay.  Different is good, and decidedly not boring.  Unlike all my sisters, however, I only get two brothers to observe and try to comprehend.  We shall see how that goes!