my brother

My brother Dan and I lived together, as adults, for several years.

It was perfect. We got along great, and he's still one of my favourite people.

We had been living together for a while when I went shopping for new clothes, and found some cool black boxers covered in little jolly rogers. I bought one pair for myself, and another pair for my brother. I brought them home, and tried to give him the larger pair.

He declined the underwear, emphatically saying, "No. NO! We are not, absolutely NOT, wearing matching underwear."

As children, when we went camping or on a ski trip, Dan regularly (dare I say frequently) forgot his toothbrush.

So, we shared a toothbrush. That was dad's solution. Once we arrived at our destination and Dan announced that he had forgotten his toothbrush, it was decided that my toothbrush was communal property. It was always Dan who forgot, and my toothbrush that was sacrificed.

We thought nothing of it, until Dan mentioned it in front of his wife, who was thoroughly disgusted. She asked, "I don't understand. Why didn't your father just buy another toothbrush?"

We looked at her, with blank expressions, and I said, "Oh, that option was never on the table."

How close are Dan and I?

Matching underwear -Hard no.

Shared toothbrush -OK.