You can choose your friends but you sho' can't choose your family, an' they're still kin to you no matter whether you acknowledge 'em or not, and it makes you look right silly when you don't.
Harper Lee, To Kill a Mockingbird
A few weeks ago, I spent a weekend with my brother. Although, overall, we had a decent time (and I would only slightly hesitate to do it again), there were moments during the weekend when I wished I wasn’t with him. But in the end, I’m glad we spent the time together. You see, my brother knows how to trigger my buttons and he didn't hesitate doing that occasionally during the weekend. He got this skill from my father, as he used to do the same thing to me, hoping to trigger my reaction. As such, I spent most of my life dealing with this. So I'm used to it and it’s the reason I frequently avoid interaction with my brother (and previously avoided interaction with my father).
However to be fair (given my occasional bouts of paranoia), I'm probably not the easiest person to get along with either. I think the problem between my brother and I stems from the fact that we both think that we are always right (when he’s obviously wrong!). Also, we both need to be in control of every personal interaction with each other. Sounds like fun, eh?
In some regards, we are very similar, in others we are complete opposites (like his taste for crappy road music). However, in the end, we are brothers. So if the good lord’s willing and the creeks don't rise (one of our father's “isms”) there'll be another opportunity in the future, where we can spend some more time together and set another world record of getting irritated with each other in only a few days!
