By Marianna Cooper
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As I started my junior year in high school, my older brother Nick started college. Nick is my only sibling and in his absence, I’ve experienced what life as an only child might be like. There have definitely been some perks; I get the car all to myself, no one ever kicks me off of the computer and I leave for school at a time convenient for me. But I miss having someone else around to roll their eyes when my parents are being crazy, to sit around and watch TV with and to walk the trail with every morning.

As the youngest child, I have been able to learn from Nick’s experiences and mistakes, rather than have to make them on my own.

While I learned quite a bit about driving in driver’s ed, it was Nick who showed me what not to do as a driver. During the week of Homecoming my freshman year, Nick was once again running late. To get us both to school on time, he was speeding 72 miles per hour down Meridian Street, which has a speed limit of 55 miles per hour. Of course, we were pulled over. I sat, dressed as a pirate for a spirit day and watched Nick shake as he rolled down the window for a Carmel police officer. As the officer wrote him a ticket, I learned not to speed.

A few weeks into Nick’s senior year, and my sophomore year, Nick won a parking pass for the entire school year in a fundraising raffle. Two weeks later, I happened to be home from school sick. As Nick was turning left out of our neighborhood on his way to school, he turned in front of an oncoming vehicle and totaled his car. Thankfully, he was okay. But when my parents read the police report and found out Nick had been rushing out of our neighborhood at 7:20 a.m., they were not pleased. The rest of the school year, I watched the parking pass sit on his desk while my brother, a senior, rode the bus. That was when I learned the importance of leaving early.

My brother taught me about more than just driving safely. After watching my parents ground him for missing curfew, I have never had the desire to do the same.  Nick was the first one to start high school and look at colleges, making my parents more relaxed when my turn came around for these experiences. When I have teachers that Nick once had, I always know what to expect.

All in all, Nick is crazy. He’s always running late, leaving the bathroom a mess and waking me up in the morning. When I tell older students that Nick is my brother, I sometimes hear the sarcastic response, “You’re Nick Cooper’s sister?  I’m sorry.”  While Nick can be difficult sometimes, I am most definitely not sorry. Nick has always been a great older brother. My whole family, Nick included, is supportive of all the activities and plans I have. And what I have realized most while Nick has been in college is that I am grateful I am not an only child.