The family I am choosing

Who says you can not choose who your family members are? I beg to disagree for I, exactly at this moment, am choosing who I will call and consider family. And this does not include my Ex-older brother.

My older brother has always been a bully when we were growing up. Considering that we grew up away from our father, he was the top dog with us. Even to this day he still feels he can bully me. Of course I have grown to not fear him and not allowing him to bully me.

This past weekend my mom and I drove to my older brother in Tennessee. I personally did not really want to drive up to get his luggage so my mom can bring it back home to the Philippines. I was not inclined to do him a favor considering that he was never really nice or brotherly to me and he has always been obnoxious about my being gay. But my mother insisted and I really felt guilty so I agreed to drive my mom. I also stipulated the he pays me the 2 days worth of work for more than 2 days of my personal time doing something for him. He agreed to it but in retrospect, I knew he will not honor his words. He is not exactly the shinning example of honor and Christianly ways. (BTW, he is a hypocrite for being a bible quoting Christian in the Bible belt)

After 14 hours of being in the road and 80 dollars worth of gas money, we arrived at his place. Of course he refused to pay me the money he agreed to. More argument ensues and I point blank refused to bring his luggage back with us. I proceeded to make it clear to him the he can not bully me anymore and that I am no longer afraid of him. This outright proclamation made him so mad that he lunged at me and hit me on the right cheek with a punch. It was more like a graze cause it did not hurt at all. That incident made it really clear to me that he still wants to bully me and it was his way of showing it. My mom separated us and I was promptly instructed to wait outside. While waiting outside, I proceeded to call 911. Halfway in the conversation I changed my mind about filing a complain of assault and ended the call. I thought about how this would really put my mom in the middle and I just really want to get out of that hell hole. Had I filed a complain, I would have to stick around in TN and stay for the court proceedings. My practical side overruled my anger. Plus I did not really want to see my mom get hurt anymore. So my mom and I promptly left his place and stayed at a hotel for the night. The next day we both drove back to Chicago. I've never been so happy to leave a place in my life!

This incident was the last straw that broke the camel's back so to speak. This incident solidified my resolve to disown him as a brother. Should he need my blood or organ to save his life, I will refuse him with glee and without a second thought. After all, he is NOT my family.