A Little Big Sis

Was shopping around a bit, trying to find a (super belated) birthday present for my youngest brother.. And as I wander around looking for a suitable present, I came to realize just how much my youngest brother has grown up... Gone were the days where my brothers thought I'm the coolest sister just because I could draw tons of Pokemon characters for them to color, the times where they would gladly come to their "know-it-all" sis for help with homework, more and more I'm thinking what is there to being a big sister, especially to teenage brothers who are growing up far-away from me....

And so. The immediate problem was how to assert my status as "cool big sister" by finding a cool present for my brother's 16th birthday. Coloured pencils? Nah, that was for long ago when he specialized in vandalising the walls... Stuffed animals? He used to like them, but am not sure he still does... Gundam robots? C'mon Shiela what are you thinking.. Chocolate? (the Plan B that always becomes Plan A in my case because hey, how can you go wrong with chocolate?) but nah, not for my brother... A mug? Too classic... Shirt? I don't really know his size.. Perfume? Yep my "heck-care" youngest bro now uses it and I know what he likes, but he just bought a full bottle.. Bag? He got a cool faux leather one from my other bro.. Stationery? Shoes? 

In the end, I gave up and fall back on the one thing that always works with brothers (at least with mine..) : I tell him he can choose a restaurant and order whatever he wants. So, we were going to eat at Bakerzin because they have fantastic desserts, and I was to meet him in VivoCity. 

"Sis, where are you? Am here in front of the shop." "K, be there in 5 minutes", and while looking for my brother, I realize that I'm no longer trying to spot the kid with loose t-shirt and baggy shorts (oh yeah, he was so heck-care he even wore his shorts the wrong way several times. Nope, he doesn't read my blog.) Now, am looking at a tall guy with a well-cut shirt, cool black jeans, trendy shoes, nice posture, and thinking, "Wow that's my kid brother.." And it hits me that these days when I go out with my brothers I always make an effort to dress "older", "more sophisticated", that kinda thing... because if I hang out with them wearing shirt, bermudas and sandals, I look like some 16 year old heck-care "kid" following her cool-looking older brother around.. What an irritating state of affairs! 

And during the lunch treat I discovered quite a lot about my brothers. For example, that he doesn't like thick-crust pizza. That he doesn't really like chocolate. (ok, so luckily I didn't choose the easy way out). That he once went all around Singapore collecting free advertisement postcards AND WROTE A MESSAGE IN EACH AND EVERY ONE OF THEM just because the girl he adores likes those kind of postcards.

Wow. 

I've always adored my younger brothers, in an "oh-my-bro-is-so-cute"kind of way, but I think I'm starting to really like and admire them for the persons they are becoming. I feel like a "little" big sis..Not just because my brothers are now physically so much bigger than me, but also because they are stronger, more dependable, becoming their own personalities instead of just my little brothers.

Oh, but the other day, the middle one called me all the way from Malaysia to ask about a problem in Business Law, which he should've known is not my domain, but he still wanted my help anyway. I'm a bit proud.. Maybe the little big sis still has to be around for some time...