#I'm his only little sister and he's a mite protective but I love him for it <3< /div> Explore tagged Tumblr posts

[totallynotstealingcheesecake]

okay so this is so not the kind of thing that I normally post but I am actively dying of wholesome and I needed to share. Long post inbound.

Okay so for context, I'm not *super* close with my youngest (closest to me in age) brother, but we vibe pretty well and generally have fun together, just our interests don't align very often.

A few months ago we basically looked at each other and went "hey wait a second, we're both like. in our early 20s and not tied down with partners/demanding jobs/children, but heck its probably not gonna stay that way for very long -- lets do that sibling bonding roadtrip we keep talking about."

So we did. We took a roadtrip back to our hometown, which happens to be in a very northern part of the US, and we had a lovely time.

But that's not the important part -- the main thing to take away here is that while we were on a sibling bonding trip visiting our hometown up north, we went to a hockey game.

Now, I am not generally a sports person. I'm on tumblr, so maybe that should be obvious. I don't mind hockey, though, because generally I can follow the flow of the game and occasionally the players deck each other, so its a fun time all around.

My brother convinced me (it didn't take much convincing) to go to a hockey game, and it just so happened that his favorite team had a home game the week we were gonna be in town. So we went to that.

Reader -- I loved it.

Did I understand everything that was happening? No, not even close. But I knew which color jersey to cheer for, and I made an attempt to remember names, and I knew which net was the good one for the puck to go in. But at some point during that game, it became so much less about understanding what was happening, and so much more about the atmosphere, the intensity, the hive-mind group energy of a thousand people cheering at the same time, for the same thing.

If you have never experienced a big sporting event like that, do it. I beg you, do it at least once, give it a solid try, take earplugs if you need to. It is addictive.

So we finish the roadtrip and go home, and some time passes. My brother invites me to watch a hockey game with him, and I don't have anything going on, and I can see a bid for connection when one is presented to me, so I accept. And it's fun! I still don't know what's going on, but my brother is more than happy to answer my questions, and it turns out I actually picked up a few things from the live game we went to. I have a great time, I hug my brother, and we part ways again.

Another month goes by. I'm back at college now and obviously stressed out of my mind. I'm not doing much of anything recreationally that isn't tangentially related to my chosen course of study. I'm slowly losing my mind. My brother texts me -- "hey, idk if you actually wanted to get into hockey or if that was like, a one-time thing, but there's another game happening this weekend. If you have time, we could watch it on my TV."

I don't have much homework due that weekend, and I'm losing my mind anyway, so what the heck. Yeah, I'm sufficiently intrigued. I watch another hockey game.

A week goes by. My brother mentions in passing that he won't be able to watch the away game happening in a day or two, because he'll be at work. I glance at my calendar. I have time. I've already downloaded the hockey team's app. Eh, what the heck. I watch the hockey game, on my own. (I watched the hockey game, on my own, of my own volition.)

In the middle of the game, I text my brother to ask a question about something the commentator said. He types for a few minutes, then texts back:

"Are you watching the hockey game? Right now?"

Oop.

"............maybe"

He answers my question and is quietly smug. I look up the team calendar and we make plans to watch the next game together.

Fast forward to few days ago, I am, unfortunately(?), hooked. I've watched more hockey games in the last month than my entire life. I have a favorite player. I understand approx. 40% of what the commentators say. The other day, I yelled at the TV because a hockey player did something dumb. (the net was empty and he missed, how do you miss an unguarded net--) I felt like a middle-aged suburbian father who emotionally neglects his three and a half children. But still, I'm actually having fun, and spending more time with my brother.

We watch another hockey game together. I've taken to wearing the freebie hat I got at my first game because it's the only thing I have with the team logo on it. It's a very dumb-looking hat, but I wear it with a slowly-growing sense of pride. I joke with my brother that I'm gonna have to buy an official hat so I can watch a game without looking so silly.

Fast forward to yesterday. I get home from college, and my brother is also there, looking a little sheepish. He hands me a brand new, officially licensed t-shirt in the team's colors with the team logo on the front. "So you don't have to wear the stupid hat," he says.

I give him a hug (because what else was I gonna do, not hug him?) and in the hug, he says quietly, "Thanks for being interested in my interest."

Reader, I am one of two people in my family (other than him) that has taken any kind of interest in sports. Reader, I thought he was just being nice when he was answering my numerous questions, but he was actually just very quietly goddang thrilled that someone was taking his interest seriously, that he got to explain the game to a willing audience.

BUt that's not all! No no, reader, today I looked up the official merch store, because I still kind of want a better hat.

Reader. Everything on that store is egregiously overpriced.

Reader, reader, my brother is broke.

He spent. A not insignificant amount of money -- that would otherwise have been spent on buying the little things like food and rent and gas for his car -- to buy me a t-shirt. Because I decided to give hockey a chance.

Reader. I am going to cry.