This is for Keeps

My little brother is getting married Saturday.

This is an occasion of great joy, of course. The house and family are in a bustle of activity, readying clothes, flowers, and gifts, writing speeches, and lamenting weight/hair/acne problems. My brother has caught a cold, so he fretting that not only won't he be able to sing to his bride at the reception (For all their bravado and genuine capabilities, Traynor men tend to be awfully romantic), but he may not be able to do more that whisper his vows. 

There's a lot of fretting, but deep down, we know how it'll all end. The vows will be said, the dances will be pranced, the wine drunk, and in years to come, the worries will be forgotten in favor of the greater over-all joy of the day. Its a time of big change, a happy shift, a good step forward for both my brother and his soon-to-be-Mrs. 

As I child, I feared change. I feared growing older, for I viewed change and growth as things ending. We were children, then childhood ends. We were best friends, now we are married and other people take more time and attention. We were a unit - now we are legion, (seriously - do you know how big my family is?) augmented with new people, new children, wives and their families. Our holidays, once simple, are now complicated by competing schedules and traditions. Sometimes feelings are even hurt. Growing pains. Change hurts.

When my brother takes that vow on Saturday, he'll be taking a step away from his childhood, but towards something greater. He's building something, something that is uniquely his and his wife's. He's building a family of his own. But though he may have outgrown his old room, his toys, and his old sweatshirt, he is and always will be my brother. Gray hair will come, marriages and children will interfere with one-on-one time, but we'll still have the memories that years of companionship provides. After all, we are still the only two people in the house who enjoy Simon and Simon.  My little brother is a man now, but he is still my brother, my friend, and I'm still his big sister. 

Somethings even time can't change.

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