Protective Big Brother

I have three baby sisters, although I suspect that they would not like to be referred to that way as the youngest are 30 year-old twins.

At an early age my father sat me down and told me that as the oldest I had a responsibility and that I needed to help him look out for my sisters. I took him seriously and I suspect that there have been times when all three of the girls would say that I was overprotective, but I always felt better making sure that my presence was known.

My middle sister is closest in age to me, she is two years younger than I am. This meant that for years she and I were in school together. At times it felt difficult, but in my role as the protective big brother it had some advantages, especially in high school.

For two years I was able to keep an eye on things, but it wasn't always easy. It should come as no surprise that my sister was not keen on my trying to keep the boys away from her. She wanted to make all of the decisions about who she dated, and rightly so.

Nonetheless I persevered and found little ways to let the fellows know that I was watching.

We went to different universities, so things changed a little. I really wasn't around much of the time to meet the people she dated, except on the odd occasion here and there.

There are a lot of stories that I could tell about us and the things I did to try and keep an eye on her without her knowing about it, too many to relate. Here is one of my favorites.

She and a few friends came to one of the parties my fraternity held. I notified some of my colleagues there and asked for their help in making sure that she did not get involved with certain brothers. Some of them were just not nice to women and I wasn't about to let her try dating them, but I couldn't tell her that as I would have gotten the speech.

So at this particular party here are a few of the tricks I used to stop the guys. When she was dancing with one guy I pretended to be really drunk and accidentally spilled my beer all over him. He didn't like wearing 16 ounces and left to change.

Another guy was accidentally hit in the head with a basketball and then I helped him find some ice and explained the facts of life.

I told another guy that her current boyfriend was in jail for beating up a guy who spoke with her at a bar. It must have sounded real, because he bought it.

At the end of the night I was able to relax and feel good about things because she had had a good time and did not have any inkling of my activities. Or maybe she did and I was the one who had no clue because all I know is that a short time afterwards she began dating a guy she had met at the party.

All that work and she still managed to get around me. Little sisters can be such a pain. ;)