My brother and I always got along, I guess you could say we were friends, and everything was fine between us. We didn’t fight, or really even argue for that matter, but we were never all that close… Two years ago he moved out of my family’s house and lived in a dorm at the U of A. During the past two years we saw each other occasionally, maybe once every other week, but we weren’t like the story book brothers who are always there for each other and are the best of friends. We weren’t close, and we didn’t care.
At the beginning of July things changed between my brother and I. I had just finished high school and wanted to move out and have some fun. I wasn’t too interested in a dorm for several reasons, but that’s beside the point. Most of my friends were just going to live at home for a year, so I sort of had nowhere to go if I wanted to move out. My brother invited me to live at his house. I instantly accepted the invitation, not really thinking. I didn’t think it would be weird living with him since I had done it previously for 16 years. While moving into his house it hit me that my brother and I were strangers to one another. All I could think of was how awkward it was going to be between us, and it would be even more awkward since we are brothers and we should be completely comfortable around each other. I must admit I was a bit worried… So I was all moved in and my parents finally left, and surprisingly things were not awkward at all. I learned that the tension between my brother and I was coming from the supervision and discipline of our parents. Living on our own we were/are able to say and do whatever we pleased. Moving in with my brother found me my new best friend, and a new life. Living together has 100% changed our identities toward one another as siblings.
This experience went well for me. It was a very broad topic so it wasn’t too hard for me thinking of an idea to write about, especially with the topic “An experience that changed you,” I’m sure we all have tons of those. I didn’t really fictionalize any of my experience, but it was hard for me deciding what to write and what to leave out. I really crammed a huge experience of my life into two short paragraphs. I think it’s a little difficult talking about an experience that changed your identity in two paragraphs, because whatever your experience may be, if you’re trying to describe an identity changing experience, it’s a huge deal (yes I know this is a bit repetitive).
I’m a bit disappointed about how utterly boring my first journal/blog is. It was hard for me to make moving out and becoming closer to my brother interesting to anyone else. But on a final note, I think this was a good experience for our first journal.
