Growing up, many children look up to their favorite superheros, singers, or actors. Being the unusual person that I am, my favorite role model is my brother, Justin. Like many kids, when I was first born my brother was a little jealous of  me being the center of attention all of the time. Even though we are 14 years apart, it still bothered him. About a year after I was born,  he didn’t get jealous anymore, and actually appreciated having a little sister. By the time I was 3, gears were shifting. Justin had his license and was headed to college. I was a bit jealous of his freedom.
Justin is my role model for many reasons beginning that he gives amazing advice. If I ever need to ask him a question on my math  or civics homework, he is always happy to help. I don’t really like the fact that he lives about an hour away, but I’ve learned to deal with  it and accept that I can always FaceTime, Skype, text, call, or iMessage him whenever I need to ask him something. Whenever he has the time to come back home he does, but it is very hard for him to most of the time, since he works a lot  of overtime. Whenever he comes home, it is a treat.
I also admire my brother for the fact that he never gives up. After graduating high school, he went off to college to become a lineman. On a summer day when I was about 5 or 6 years old,  my mother and I were outside enjoying the weather when my brother came home. It was very unusual for him to be home so early. He pulled up, and my mother and I went to greet him. His face was pale and he looked like he wasn’t feeling very well. When he got out of his pickup truck, we saw that he must have gotten hurt. He revealed to my mother that he had slid down the powerline-pole. He cleaned himself up and my mother put disinfecting spray and gauze on his stomach. He told us that he wanted to be done with college. My parents had a talk with him and with their wise words of wisdom, they talked him into staying in college. Like I said before, he never gives up.
Lastly, I admire Justin for the fact that he just likes to have fun. During the spring, summer, and fall months, when he comes home, he likes to go fourwheeling. In the spring he likes to go on walks and play fetch, when he comes home with his dogs. Buckley is a yellow lab and is the oldest; Drake is a black lab and is the youngest. During the summer months, Justin likes to go swimming. In the fall, my dad, Justin, and I set up our deer stands, and shotgun hunt together. They also bowhunt, but I haven’t gotten the basics down for that yet! In the winter, we usually snowmobile together, and  sometimes when I am sledding, Justin will be kind enough to drive the fourwheeler down to me and hook it to the fourwheeler, so I don’t have to walk up the deep snow drifts.
No matter what the circumstances are, I always know that my brother has my back in the end. I may be different for choosing my brother for my role model, but that is okay.  I am proud to have him in my life, I may not have picked him as my brother, but I am lucky to have him as my brother. Like the old saying goes, blood is thicker than water.