<p>I have two brothers, B(10) and JT(20).... older one is a bit estranged, and I've been the only source of contact he's had to the family for the past couple of years, aside from two Christmas days he has spent with us. For the five years before that, there was no contact whatsoever. My kid brother and I didn't even know if he was still alive.
Needless to say, JT is not very involved in B's life, which makes B extremely sad whenever he thinks about it.
I'm looking to go to school on the other side of the country, and it's just starting to hit me how fast this is coming up. I'm not going to have much money to come home for holidays as a student, and my family cant help because we are swimming in debt as it is.
Mum told me this morning that B has been talking about me going away almost every day for the past two months. He apparently thinks that when I go away, he essentially becomes an only child.</p>
<p>Also, B has been pushing me for months to get a boyfriend. It's been kind of annoying, and I've snapped at him more than a few times for it.
Learned today that the reason he wants me to get a BF is so that I have a reason to come home.</p>
<p>I am sorry for you and especially for your little brother. My brother is a bit estranged as well but it doesn’t affect me that much.
I think that maybe you should speak to little brother about college. Explain to him that you wont be gone forever and that you will come home on vacations. You could probably skype each other all the time so that the separation is more bearable. Just a suggestion.</p>
<p>I was that little sibling, except that I had one sister, 2 years older, who was with me. My oldest sister never lived with me in the first place (different mothers) and went to college when I was 2. She had serious and legitimate issues with my father, but it still sucked to not see her for perhaps 4 years, especially since back then I had no idea why.
One of my cousins was like a sister, and when I realized she was going to college, I was sure that meant the end of our relationship. My brother, who also never lived with me (different mothers, again, but a different different mother than my sister) had gone to college since then, and I saw him more, but still not much. I think the example of my sister stuck with me, because I was certain about college being a break, an end.
But she proved to me that it wasn’t. I saw her all the time. And my sister who is 2 years older than me went to college in 08, and I call her constantly. We talk, I dunno, more than 6 hours a week, which is nothing in comparison to how much we used to, but keeps us very much connected.</p>
<p>I don’t think you’ll be able to alter your little brother’s certainty that he’ll be alone until after you’re gone, and proof hath made him know what your love is.</p>
<p>Aw, that kind of sucks =/. Idk what to really tell you though, except to somehow ease the transition and speak to your younger brother about it so that he understands. Hopefully, you could convince your older brother to make more frequent trips home, but it’s ultimately up to him, and you have to worry about how he and your parents will interact.</p>
<p>You’re not the first one to go through this though, so take comfort knowing that it worked out rather well in the end.</p>
