Sweet moments in life

[plural]

so

I just got off the phone with my little sister
who for those of you who do not know is sixteen

while most people would consider our relationship
to be a fairly normal, if not close relationship
for a brother and a sister

it is unusual in that we pretty much grew up entirely separate

she was born when I was twelve
and shortly afterwards I went to boarding school
and as I was rarely home in the summers
we didn't have a lot of that "growing up together" sort of time

but we have nearly always gotten along well
and when she went to boarding school herself
I made a point of visiting her there at least twice a year

considering most of you probably did not go to boarding school
I will explain the dual significance of this

the first part is fairly simple
showing brotherly love and giving her the occasion escape from school
we go out for dinners, go shopping, see movies
I buy her all sort of junk food and other stuff my parents wouldn't approve of
and of course, from time to time dispense a little brotherly advice
and try to help her avoid common pitfalls of high school
without seeming like a parent

the second part is more specific to boarding schools
I noticed when I was in boarding school
especially my freshman year
that having attractive and cool seeming siblings
increased my social cache and made getting along a bit easier

but even more than that
kids at boarding schools are nearly always
quite anxious to get a break from them
and so the opportunity to get off campus
without a teacher or parent following you around
generates a lot of envy

especially when you can go back
and brag about how your brother
bribed a maitre de so that the two of you
could share a bottle of wine over dinner
at one of the nicest Italian restaurants in town

I was especially surprised that incident never came back to me through the grapevine
of course, it might have been mentioned and dismissed by my parents
as alcohol is not a taboo thing in our family
now had I returned her to school stinking drunk, I would have been in trouble
but wine with dinner is no problem.

in fact they didn't even mind
when a close female friend and I
took her and her friend (both 15) at the time
for an evening on the town in NYC
staying out well past 3 am

just as long as they knew they were safe
[yeah they actually trust me, imagine that]

anyway
she is wrapping up a month long stint
volunteering on an environmental research project
in the virgin islands
[rough life eh]
and so I called to check up

we chit chatted about a few things
I gave her some brotherly advice
about how to get away with smuggling liquor into the country

to be entirely clear
I was not advocating that she do so
she had already purchased the liquor
and was set on bringing it home
I realizing dissuasion was impossible
and considering as a minor I smuggled cases upon case of booze
into the us on my return trips from abroad
I didn't really have a moral leg to stand upon
so merely resigned myself to trying to educate her on how to do it without getting caught

had she been coming home from actually outside of the US
rather than a US territory, I might have been more concerned

I also gave her a few other bits of general life/perspective on life advice
and remarking that I was done rambling
we said our good byes

as I had my hands full at the moment
and was talking on the ear bud/headset
I just waited for her to hang up before using the voice dial feature
to dial my next call

but before I did
I heard her remark to a friend
as she was hanging up

"god, I love my brothe..."

now
unless she was continuing a previous conversation
which I interrupted about her brothel
in which case
I think I probably need to have a serious sit down talk with her
as a brothel really isnt appropriate at her age

so for my own reasons
I am going to assume there was an r on the end there
which was truncated by her hanging up the phone
and you know

that is pretty sweet