I don’t understand the habit of calling someone “brother” to indicate a more important type of friendship.  I mean, logically I do.  I know what the relationship between brother supposed to be.  Emotionally, though… nope, I don’t get it.  In fact, calling me “brother” sort of makes me cringe a little on the inside.

Let me start the explanation with, I did not like my brothers.  I use the past tense since they have all passed.  In their own ways, all three of my brothers were kind of awful people in my opinion.  If they were not related to me, they were people I’d have actively avoided.  And before each of them passed, I was actively avoiding them.  Again – each for their own set of reasons.  Though, the common thread was a lack of respect for me and any sort of boundaries.

I am not going to bad mouth my brothers any more than I have, but they have completely soured the concept of brother for me.  I have had a few friends who I have were probably the closest thing I’ve ever had to a brother, meaning what brother is supposed to be.  My actual brothers were not anything like what a “brother” is supposed to be. 

I’m envious of people who have great relationships with their brothers; I never did.

If people do call me “brother” to indicate they feel close to me, I accept it as they mean it.  I know what they are trying to say even if the word they choose is sort of a foreign concept to me.