my bro bro
my brother graduated from college today.
his name is Hap, and he was 11 when i was born. my sister was 15, and she was your classic overachieving first child. shit was just... never easy for Hap, and our mom was not the kind of mother who made it any easier on him. he had some mild learning disabilities, and fuck, we ALL have depression in our family... but mostly i think it was just the pressure and expectation that permeated the atmosphere of our house from the time we were kids.
Hap went to college for a year when he was 18, but it just didn't work, it wasn't the right time for him, he just wasn't ready. he ended up coming home, drifting around for a long time working odd jobs and feeling shitty. he met a girl, an amazing girl who he's going to marry in February, and sometime about 7 years ago started building up credits bit by bit at the community college until finally, 3 years ago, he transferred to the local university. he worked AND went to school full time for 3 years, getting every scholarship he could find, sleeping 4 hours a night, and learning just fucking everything, it seems like.
and today he graduated, two weeks after i graduated from college too, a weird ass occurence that neither of us can stop giggling about. he walked across the stage and hasn't stopped smiling since.
he's been there for me since the day i was born, and i know i wouldn't be the snarky, bitchass cool person i am today if i hadn't grown up in a house with him. my favorite game to play when i was 2 was to have Hap push me in the swing in our front yard, and run around to the front so i could kick him in the ass as i swung forward. i would literally scream with laughter when we did this. my favorite game to play when i was 3 years old was to run in circles around Hap's legs until he stuck out a foot and tripped me. i would fall, laugh like a maniac, and jump up to do it again.
Hap is sardonic, cynical. mercurial and so, so smart. he's the person i look up to most. i'm so proud of my bro bro.
