Personal Relfection: Brother - Mary Ragan

Now that we are all older, it has become so special for my whole family to be together. It was really great to have everyone together for Thanksgiving, including my mom and dad, older sister and brother, younger sister, and my older sister's boyfriend. I think that I have actually gotten closer to my two older siblings as we have gotten older. I think that we understand each other more now and accept each other more for who we are which is really awesome. And we are all so different! While I was home I was really grateful to get to talk with my brother for a while about real stuff, not just us fooling around and joking on each other, but actually talking. He is 22 and think largely in that stage of trying to figure out what he should be doing and how he should be living his life. The conversation got into some religious aspects and it was very interesting to hear his points of view on things. He is not very religious and had stopped going to church and I was very interested in hearing his thoughts on different things and trying to question him. It was also very interesting for me because it made me come up with my thoughts and feeling and the confidence to portray them to him. Of course, we didn't figure everything out by 2 am. I know I often leave these kinds of discussions or conversations more stressed and contemplative than when I entered. But it just felt really good to be on this level with my brother and be able to have this kind of conversation with. I put a lot of value into important relationships in my life which are definitely those of my family.