For about the last 15 months, my older younger brother (Chance) has been living with me, except for a couple months last summer when he moved back to Tipton to save up some money and spend time with my mom and youngest younger brother (Kendall).
 |
| Chance and Kendall |
When people found out my sibling and I would be living together again—willingly—they had a range of reactions. The most common were:
a) Why would you want to live with your brother again? Getting away from siblings is the best part of moving out of Mom’s house.
b) Hmm…that’ll be interesting. You’ll have to let me know what a disaster that turns out to be.
c) Ohmygosh you’ll have so much fun! (This was the response I received from most, since most people know how close my brothers and I are and how funny Chance is.)
And the Cs have it. It has been great having my bromate around. [Funny story: I thought I made up the word bromate, but Word didn’t give me a red squiggly line (like it did for ohmygosh). So I looked it up and found out it is a word and it means: a salt of bromic acid. But for the purposes of this post, it means: a brother who is also a roommate.]
Although Chance does tease me when I wear my big blue robe around the house and jokes about me burning everything from toast to a Sunday roast, he’s been a perfect bromate.
If you or someone you know is considering living with a sibling as adults, go for it. The benefits far exceed the teasing and jokes that are standard with brothers of any age. I could write a book about the great things about living with Chance, but these ones top the list:
1. Live-in dogsitter: This was one of the most important for me. In my pre-bromate days, every morning when I left for work, I felt as though I was leaving a three-year-old child home by himself. Irresponsible parenting at its finest, right? And planning vacations? Next to impossible. But when Chance came along, the problem was solved. His work schedule varies, so Deuce is rarely left home for more than six hours at a time. (This may still sound like a long time to some of you, but when the norm used to average between eight and ten hours, six is a walk in the park.)
2. Built-in lawn mower: Lawn maintenance was not something I took into consideration when I decided to buy a house. I was all, “Owning a house will be so fun. I won’t be wasting money on an apartment, I can paint my walls Velveeta yellow if I want, and I can get my puppy back!” I soon realized owning a house also meant I wouldn’t have a maintenance man to fix the air conditioner and leaky faucets, I had to buy a washer and dryer, and I was responsible for the upkeep of my yard…or else the evil homeowners’ association was going to drag me out to my unkempt front yard and berate me in front of the people whose lawns were beautifully manicured (and whose driveways didn’t have oil stains). My first summer I paid a guy to mow every few weeks. When Chance moved in, I thought, Nuts to that. Chance used to mow little old ladies’ yards in Tipton. He won’t mind mowing mine. And he didn’t. [Note: Randel now takes care of the yard since he has more time and a better lawnmower…and so he can prepare for the future.]
3. No more cooking for one: Have you ever tried cooking for one? It sucks. Especially when you’re making spaghetti. I always end up making enough for eleven people. And after three days tops, I’m over any meal. When I lived by myself, I had cereal for dinner many, many nights. When Chance entered the picture, I became Betty Crocker. “Ash, you really don’t have to cook every day,” he’s told me more than once. But as the nurturing older sibling, I feel I do. And I don’t mind because it gives me leftovers for lunch the next day, but I don’t have to eat enchilada casserole until it’s coming out my ears.
4. He tells Deuce good night every night: Chance is a big ol’ softie. And he’ll be the first to admit it. His favorite movie is The Notebook, he goes out of his way to talk to babies and the elderly, and he loves animals. Even my crazy Deuce. And every night, without fail, he tells me good night and then adds, “Good night, Deuce.” This is usually followed with some good night slobbers. It’s pretty cute.
a) Why would you want to live with your brother again? Getting away from siblings is the best part of moving out of Mom’s house.
b) Hmm…that’ll be interesting. You’ll have to let me know what a disaster that turns out to be.
c) Ohmygosh you’ll have so much fun! (This was the response I received from most, since most people know how close my brothers and I are and how funny Chance is.)
And the Cs have it. It has been great having my bromate around. [Funny story: I thought I made up the word bromate, but Word didn’t give me a red squiggly line (like it did for ohmygosh). So I looked it up and found out it is a word and it means: a salt of bromic acid. But for the purposes of this post, it means: a brother who is also a roommate.]
Although Chance does tease me when I wear my big blue robe around the house and jokes about me burning everything from toast to a Sunday roast, he’s been a perfect bromate.
If you or someone you know is considering living with a sibling as adults, go for it. The benefits far exceed the teasing and jokes that are standard with brothers of any age. I could write a book about the great things about living with Chance, but these ones top the list:
1. Live-in dogsitter: This was one of the most important for me. In my pre-bromate days, every morning when I left for work, I felt as though I was leaving a three-year-old child home by himself. Irresponsible parenting at its finest, right? And planning vacations? Next to impossible. But when Chance came along, the problem was solved. His work schedule varies, so Deuce is rarely left home for more than six hours at a time. (This may still sound like a long time to some of you, but when the norm used to average between eight and ten hours, six is a walk in the park.)
2. Built-in lawn mower: Lawn maintenance was not something I took into consideration when I decided to buy a house. I was all, “Owning a house will be so fun. I won’t be wasting money on an apartment, I can paint my walls Velveeta yellow if I want, and I can get my puppy back!” I soon realized owning a house also meant I wouldn’t have a maintenance man to fix the air conditioner and leaky faucets, I had to buy a washer and dryer, and I was responsible for the upkeep of my yard…or else the evil homeowners’ association was going to drag me out to my unkempt front yard and berate me in front of the people whose lawns were beautifully manicured (and whose driveways didn’t have oil stains). My first summer I paid a guy to mow every few weeks. When Chance moved in, I thought, Nuts to that. Chance used to mow little old ladies’ yards in Tipton. He won’t mind mowing mine. And he didn’t. [Note: Randel now takes care of the yard since he has more time and a better lawnmower…and so he can prepare for the future.]
3. No more cooking for one: Have you ever tried cooking for one? It sucks. Especially when you’re making spaghetti. I always end up making enough for eleven people. And after three days tops, I’m over any meal. When I lived by myself, I had cereal for dinner many, many nights. When Chance entered the picture, I became Betty Crocker. “Ash, you really don’t have to cook every day,” he’s told me more than once. But as the nurturing older sibling, I feel I do. And I don’t mind because it gives me leftovers for lunch the next day, but I don’t have to eat enchilada casserole until it’s coming out my ears.
4. He tells Deuce good night every night: Chance is a big ol’ softie. And he’ll be the first to admit it. His favorite movie is The Notebook, he goes out of his way to talk to babies and the elderly, and he loves animals. Even my crazy Deuce. And every night, without fail, he tells me good night and then adds, “Good night, Deuce.” This is usually followed with some good night slobbers. It’s pretty cute.
 |
| Chance and "that boy Deuce" |
5. There’s almost always someone around: Chance is always there to sing a Rihanna or Journey duet with me, ask me how my day was, watch “King of Queens” with me, and just talk about life, love, and everything in between.
 |
| See the family resemblance? |
When we were kids and had wrestling matches in the living room, tattled on each other every chance we got, and basically hated each other’s guts, I wouldn’t have believed we could get along for more than three minutes at a time and actually enjoy living together down the road. But it happened, and I’ve got the best darn bromate any sister could ask for.
No comments:
Post a Comment