When I was growing up, I had the average childhood Well, it was what I called normal anyway. I grew up living in the shadows of my older cousins and of course, my brother. My brother was what my parents called the perfect child. He never gave them a hard time. The only thing that happened to him was when he broke bones. And of course, it wasn't his fault; they were just things that happened.

In school, my brother was a straight “A” student and I got “B”s, but it was never good enough because he got “A”s, so why couldn't I? I loved basketball, but so did my brother. I was better than he was, but that didn't matter. He was the athlete in the house.

Now that my brother’s in college, I don` t really talk to him anymore but, when we do, it’s really short. My brother is still the perfect child. He is still the pure gold child. I would score but my brother stopped two people so he had a better game.

I've learned to live in the shadows but I learn that it doesn't bother me much anymore because I’m not going into anything that has to do with my brother and that’s the way it’s going to be.