Happy 21st Bro!

My not-so-little younger brother turned 21 today! I think I'm more excited than he is... 

When we were kids, I was the dominating, bossy big sister. We used to share a room with beds on opposite sides. The floor was tiled, so we'd split the room exactly in half... we weren't allowed to step on each others tiles. The door was on my side, so my brother had to jump to across "my tiles" to go out and the wardrobe was on his side so I had to hop over and stand on the rug to access my clothes :P

If I wanted to use something that belonged to him, he could name his terms and we'd negotiate (and vice versa). We were the biggest dorks (and proud of it!). Every year, our parents would take us to Paramount Book Fair... my brother and I would save all our Eidi and birthday money to buy storybooks- Famous Five, Secret Seven, Malory Towers, St. Claires, Brer Rabbit, Five Find-Outers and Dog, Famous Four, Sweet Valley, Hardy Boys, Nancy Drew and Children's Classics (Gulliver's Travels, Little Women, A Little Princess, Kidnapped, Heidi, Around the World in Eighty Days, Journey to the Center of the Earth etc.) and the list goes on. When we had to attend late-night weddings, my brother and I would take a book with us and read. People would tease my mom about it... she'd shrug and say we'd inherited the habit from our dad.   

On Saturday mornings, the parents liked to sleep in (back then, Friday and Saturday was the weekend in Pakistan). We'd wake up early to watch tv (Ninja Turtles, Manimal, The Wizard and the A-Team (I loved Mr. T)), and if I was feeling generous, I'd make breakfast for both of us... toast with peanut butter or cream cheese and chocolate milk (with 5 heaped tablespoons of Nesquik). 

When I was ten, we moved into another house and I got my own room -but he was right next door and the walls were thin. I'd hear him singing in his cracked voice (at twelve) and he'd get an earful of Backstreet Boys, Savage Garden and Spice Girls from my side. 

And then, suddenly, he was taller and bigger than me! Now, I had to look up to him. I went away for college and he came to see me off, carried my suitcases and gave me a framed picture to remember him by. 

When I had my first "rishta" encounter, he was my confidante and my go-to person for advice. And when I was freaking out, I told him not to leave me by myself with the guy and my brother stayed with me for moral support (mom and dad abandoned me :P). 

Now he's a young man in college, and we only see one another when we both happen to be on vacation at the same time.We're grown-up now. We can drive to the beach, take our little sister out for icecream, or just hang out. But we still find the same things hilarious, laugh uncontrollably at 3 am and crack dumb, cheesy jokes noone else would get.

Thanks for the good times and here's to many more (inshalah)