I kind of met my brother at age 16

In terms of memories, I'd like to think I've got a collection of some good ones. Nothing especially trying or challenging or painful, but many unique experiences that have certainly shaped me and the way I think.

I've posted a picture of my older brother, who is four years my elder. I can't say we've always been close or that we even are very close now. Growing up, I barely remember interacting with him even though our bedrooms shared a wall and we did thousands of family things. We kind of just stayed out of each others' way. No arguing or wrestling or sharing friends or toys or food. Even now, he's getting his MBA in Boston, and we speak once per month, or less. We trade emails sometimes but they're essentially a list of status updates with some congratulatory remarks.

But seven years ago when he entered college, I was 16 and we began sharing many important interests, which we seemed to develop independently. Namely, we both love to meet new people and experience new things. We recognized that we love to travel and have huge passion for individual success. The picture shown is the two of us on New Years Eve in Rome, Italy. He was visiting me after my semester abroad, and we were out on the town having a beer (or twelve). The next many pictures in the facebook album of this night are the two of us laughing, cheering and running around with many other people, Italians and other Americans, all of whom we had met minutes before. We spoke little to no Italian, but were somehow having the time of our lives in a strange place with strange people.

We both were raised in a good suburb with great parents who have good jobs and we lived totally comfortably. But no one ever demonstrated a desire to obtain anything more or different. Somehow we developed drive and passion to find reward, often through risks. This shocks our parents at first, but usually results in success beyond that which we witnessed growing up (educationally, fiscally, etc).

The point being, I define my life with key goals to gain exposure and experiences with diverse people and places. My brother has been a support system for me in these goals, and I to him as we pursue parallel opportunities in completely separate and diverging lives. I wonder how we grow to be so similar as time and distance increases between us. I certainly recognize that I see his successes and crave my own in my different life, and I know that life resources (access to funding, mobility and emotional support) aid our pursuits.