Brotherhood of "This Man".

As the census bureau leads me to believe, 60% of you have a brother. If you find yourself in that 40% without, here's what your missing.

I am the oldest sibling of my family, 6 years older than my brother and 7 years older than my sister. Relationships between brothers is such a stark contrast to a brother sister relationship. As I got older, and my sister grew, I found myself becoming overly protective of her. If somebody did something to hurt her, though to this point only emotionally I was ready to draw blood on the evil doer. Don't get me wrong my sister is a great girl, funny, full of life and very level headed, but as an older brother I automatically take on the role of protector. With my younger brother its the same but different at the same time.

My brother we'll call him "Wad" is at times, to intense for his own good and at other times as juvenile as when I was 16 and he was 10. The relationship we share is really quite amazing. We share a certain bond that only brothers in the truest of senses can share. As I seem him grow and take on responsibilities I see alot of me and my parents in him. He is genuinely a unique person, which is what I think our parents always strived for us to be.
In our family I was always the responsible one, taking more from my mother's sensibilities than my fathers, my brother was deffinately my fathers son and my sister was a ready mix of both our parents. Our parents were unique in the way they let us grow into the people we would become. They didn't give us free reign by any means, but rather, they lets us enjoy and take from life what we could, just shy of being imprisoned by our poor choices. Our parents instilled certain morals and ideals in us and let us run with them, and I thank them for that.
Now back to my brotherhood topic. At this point of my life I can say that my little bro is, for all intense and purposes, the best friend that I have. I know that he'll always have my back and he knows I'll always have his. I have had good friends throughout my life but as with many friends you grow apart. I've seen friends merry for the wrong reasons, waste their lives away and many will be forever trapped inside a neverland from which they will never escape. Forever tied to endless partying, waking up on someone's couch only to find that they have been sleeping on that same couch for 15 years.
With my brother its different. Being raised as we were we have the same goals in life. We want the best for our families, we want the best for ourselves and we just basically want to be happy. I feel we find the key to our happiness within ourselves. We play music together, work on projects together, drink to much together and most importantly we laugh together. A family that plays together, stays together. I can honestly say that I have never laughed harder in my life than I have with "Wad". He turley helps keep me young.
As I see my own two sons playing and growing I wonder; Will they be as close as me and my brother? Will they be able to sustain their ties as they grow? When there 30 and 27 will they still be able to laugh together so hard that their heads ache? I can only hope so. I will do everything in my power to ensure that my sons realize the power of their relationship. A brother is the person that will listen to what you have to say with out being judgmental, will offer you some advice when your out of ideas and help you remember that your just here to live you life.
Some of you reading this my be only children and won't be able to truly grasp this post and for that I apologize for the rambling. But for those of you who know what I'm talking about, consider us the lucky ones.
Thanks little bro, "Keep on rockin' in the freeworld". What else is there to do?