My brother was impossibly cool.

My brother was always so impossibly cool. He is six years, eleven months, and twenty-nine days older than I, which means there are two whole days keeping us from being seven years apart. When I entered Kindergarten, he moved onto middle school. When I "graduated" fifth grade to go to middle school, he graduated high school. That boy was easy to idolize with his his nonchalant attitude and very tall socks.

I don't remember ever having a fight growing up. I was the sweet, baby sister, and I thought he owned the world. He had no motive, except wanting alone time. I had no motive, except wanting to be around him (and his friends) day in and day out. I got a chalkboard and students dolls; he got the yard basketball game back.

He lettered in baseball; the letters I knew were notes on a scale and A's on report cards. Available from his uber flexible college schedule, he picked me up from middle school one day, from a Knowledge Master Open or Science Olympiad or MathCounts (or one of those other teams) meeting/practice. We were probably heading to my orthodontist appointment or somewhere equally awesome. He drove up in his sporty, black two-door with a great version of December 1963 (Oh, What a Night) pouring out of the open windows. Did he have a sun roof too? I can't remember. I can only remember that day, that song, those sunglasses. It. Was. Amazing. The only thing that would have made it better was if he had been earlier so more than the remaining eight students could see my so very cool brother. He turned the volume up when I got in the car and we practically peeled out of the parking lot. Song was on repeat all the way to our destination. Have you heard the words? So risque for a middle-schooler. Well, back then anyway. I'd glance over and then back out the window letting the wind whip my hair. I thought I was so cool. Cool by association.

He now drives a minivan and sings Hot Diggity Dog from the new Mickey Mouse Club while zipping down the highway. He is still nonchalant. He still wears dark sunglasses. He is still my epitome of cool.