It Takes a Few Siblings

I’m not going to set this up with a fancy story or grandiose language. Today, I’m just going to come out and say what I want to say:

CONGRATULATIONS TO MY KID BROTHER!

The “Boy Genius” graduated this past Friday from our high school in San Diego. Now, he being #4 of 5 kids, you’d think this would be just another graduation. However, this was a special case. BG was his class Salutatorian and was speaking at his graduation ceremony. This kind of event called for the family to meet up. Lenny and I flew into San Diego as did my other brother (#2 of 5) and his wife. It was the first time all the kids had been together in at least a year and a half.

As a unit, the 5 of us in our family are pretty close. We may not talk to each other all time, or share a lot of the same views, but when it counts we’re there for each other. In the case of my youngest two siblings, we try very hard to make sure they’re on the right path.

Don’t get me wrong. Each of us has our strengths and we highlight them as much as possible to each other. But when my little brother was just a toddler, we realized that his memory and intelligence was amazing. He was known by everyone as the “smart one.” We taught the kid the different poker hands at age six! As he grew, I couldn’t believe the little rug rat that used to puke on me and cry for hours was surpassing our high standards in school. It shouldn’t have surprised me though.

The summer after first grade, I made a reading challenge for him. He seemed to enjoy reading books as much as I did, so I wanted to encourage that. Being his primary babysitter, I made sure he read what he could. He blew through all the books that we had at the house at his reading level. I started taking him to the library. We’d get three books a piece and I figured that would last him the week. I averaged about a book a day, but I could find other stuff to read while I was waiting. Three days later, he asked when we were going again. The little booger finished reading all his books!

And so the “Reading Contest” began. I asked him to pick a number between one and thirty. He chose twenty. I struck a deal with him: If he read twenty books by a date in July, I’d take him out for a Happy Meal at McDonald’s. If he read twenty-five books, we went out for ice cream. Thirty books, a trip to the toy store. I capped out at thirty-five (a trip to the zoo or something) because there was NO WAY he was going to get there. Or so I thought.

That kid nearly bankrupted me. Thank goodness September rolled around, because he actually finished with about thirty-seven books! It was then I knew that he was going places! And so did the rest of the siblings. As he grew through high school, the oldest three siblings threw whatever knowledge and experience we had of the education system to make sure he had the opportunity to succeed.

As you know, my parents and grandparents immigrated to this country. Because of that, their grasp of our society only comes from their own experiences and their circle of friends. And sometimes…it’s not exactly accurate information. My mom’s answer to paying for college was that we should all go in the military. Okay – you all can stop laughing and picturing me in the Army, Navy, Air Force, or Marines. We know it would have never worked out (Mouthy little biotch that I am!).

That being said, I knew that college was something that I had to deal with on my own. Unfortunately, being the oldest, I didn’t have a lot of source material. You know the old adage – If I knew then, what I know now…you get the picture. While all of us are bright, kid #2 is the only one actively pursuing his college education (GO G.I. BILL!). I’ve been working full time since I moved to AZ. Kid #3 started college, but is now currently raising two adorable kids. Kid #5 is still in high school (And we’re pushing her just the same!). With our kid brother – we couldn’t just let him pass this chance up. Collectively, we all said COLLEGE HAS TO HAPPEN for this one.

So, siblings 1-3 pitched in where we could. We knew he could deal with the schoolwork (that’s never been a hard thing to do in our family), but it was the process of college education we had to work on. We pretty much worked just as hard as he did this senior year.

Kid #3 made sure he took all his SAT II, AP Tests, and got his paperwork together to apply to three colleges. Meanwhile, me and kid #2 kept verbally planting the seed with our parents that we couldn’t depend on scholarships, loans, and grants for tuition. We HAD to keep the dream alive. And as needed, the three of us would get calls asking for our opinion on where to apply, what to take, and how to do something. I’m pretty sure these calls will continue through the next year…but we’re only happy to help.

By March-April, we had FINALLY got the news we were looking for! Our precious little brother got accepted to three schools (UC Berkeley being one of them) and our parents were going to help with tuition. Then the ball kept rolling as he won a small scholarship in an essay writing contest. We could all breathe a sigh of relief. The dream was going to live!

And so, on a windy Friday afternoon…the whole family sat in the stands of our high school’s football stadium and watched our brother lead half his classmates around the track. We screamed and cheered as he walked past us. We listened with pride as he spoke to his peers and guests in his Salutatorian address. We cracked up when we could see him smiling from ear to ear all the way up in the stands. And I particularly got a kick out of another family wanting to take his picture because “He could be the next Donald Trump!”

Congratulations, kiddo! Be proud and continue to kick ass! You know we have your back!