Our Brothers/Ourselves

BROTHERS. They can take center stage and leave us to figure out what’s left.  Or give us center stage, or share. Or leave us to grieve. Or leave us. Or ask us to  marry them.  

BROTHERS. They shape who we are. Are they younger or older? Sweet or  troubled? Protective or ruthlessly competitive? Brilliant, privileged, absent.  The answers become us.  

BROTHERS and SISTERS. The Bible gives us very few of these dyads; Moses and  Miriam stand out lovingly. Feminist authors, focused on sister sibs, have left the  brother-sister pairs almost untouched.

BROTHERS. Let’s take five. An adored baby brother whose life takes a polarizing  twist. A venerated big brother who venerates in return. A rejecting brother  who will become his sister’s ward … but let’s not think about  that yet. A sandwich of brothers who create, with their sister,  something that holds up a house.  

Here, four sisterly takes.