Where Did the Time Go?

Day 148

I received my first graduation announcement from a sibling. It's from my youngest sibling. OK. He's my only younger sibling. But still. I received one from him all the same. I have seen this day in distant future since he was born. Before that, actually. When Mom was only a few months pregnant, I was fast forwarding the unborn baby's life, wondering about him as well as where I would be as he reached various stages of his life.

Graduating from high school is one of those very prominent milestones in life. I knew he and I would graduate exactly 10 years apart. So, even more, I wondered where I would be and what I would be doing when the baby I couldn't even put into my mind's eye would be graduating. It seemed so far off. It almost seemed unreachable, as my 25th birthday had seemed unreachable for so long.

But just like my 25th birthday came and went, the time for his graduation has arrived and will be over too soon. I cannot believe that almost 18 years have passed! I know most (if not all) of my family would not see it this way, but I have often looked at myself as playing a large part in his growth and development. I mean, I was there for the first 8 years of his life. For the first two, it was usually just him and me, since the others in the family had school and church responsibilities and I had none. In the next 6 years I still felt I was often caring for him and having him come along to my own church and school activities.

I still was around him after high school. I was home during one of my college summers, and then lived at home for two years din between colleges and for the beginning of grad school. He was 12 then, and I was a youth leader, specifically over the girls his age. It was an interesting addition into our relationship. When I left home that time, we tried to stay in contact through emails and phone calls. Communication dwindled as he got busy with the last half of high school. I suppose I expected that as I had been the same way. (That's when my daily journal writing habit of 7 years faltered.)

He has a lot of similarities to me. 6 years ago, that bugged me to no end because I hated how I was in my teen years; and there he stood. Just. Like. Me. But in some ways it helped me understand him, too. I have never had trouble talking to him in spite of our age differences. And I don't think he has ever had much trouble talking to me. He became a confidant for me at times, and I was so grateful that he was the one brother (the only brother!) who would hug me, or lay my head on his shoulder whenever I needed that added strength in my life.

It's probably sounds odd to others, and I don't think anyone will truly understand this--except my Father, my Savior, and probably this wonderful little brother:

If I never have the blessing of raising children of my own in this life, I have been blessed and am grateful that I had the chance to play a small part in raising such an amazing young man.

And I am so proud of him.