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place of remembrance. Wrapping her arms around her knees, she recalled happier times.
    Following the death of her mom and dad, her older brother Josh had taken on the role of father, mother, and best friend. Thanks to the careful planning of their parents, the life insurance and savings that they’d left behind, had allowed Josh and Sarah to keep the family home. Their will had given Josh legal custody of Sarah. She had been the tender age of sixteen when they had died. Josh had just turned twenty.
    Regardless of his youth, Josh had accepted his guardianship role with the courage and resolve of a mature adult. Sarah hadn’t lacked for anything. Josh had provided her not only with the material things she’d needed during her adolescent years, but he had provided strong emotional support as well. His constant presence, attention to detail, and appropriate situational intensity, had not left room for Sarah to try self-parenting. He was always home when she got out of school and he never left her alone at night. Even with all his resilient dedication to raising her right, she had never once felt suffocated by his steady guidance. Besides, she’d had plenty of freedoms. She’d just known better than to take advantage of them.
    Josh seemed to have eyes in the back of his head. He always knew everything she’d thought about doing, before she’d actually gotten around to doing them. She’d been certain that he’d had friends watching over her who reported back to him. Sarah thought it was sweet, even if her handful of friends had hated it. Needless to say, after Josh took over as parent, her so called friends had scattered like flies. At sixteen and seventeen her classmates had been eager to discover the party scene. The last thing they‘d wanted was Sarah’s big brother dampening their style.
    At first it had bothered her that he’d stayed involved in her personal life, but after a few of her friends ended up pregnant or with DWIs, Sarah was more than grateful for Josh’s interference.
    After graduating from high school, Josh had insisted that his baby sister use the remaining life insurance funds to attend the local college. She had tried to reason with him, but he’d remained insistent. Sarah had known how much was left of the remaining funds, so she never would have asked to use them for her personal gain. They had too much money to receive financial aid, but too little to pay for college and keep them afloat. It seemed selfish to use up all the money on her education.
    “It’s what mom and dad would have wanted. Please do this for me. It’s important that you go.” That had been the first and only time that Josh had ever mentioned mom and dad since their double funerals, so she’d known how critical it was to him that she fulfill his wish.
    Before Josh had made his wishes known, Sarah had just assumed that she’d be unable to attend college. Her plan had been to work her way into management at the seafood restaurant she’d been waitressing at for the last year. Though she’d never told him, Sarah had been relieved that he’d insisted she go.
    That was Josh, always putting his kid sister first. Without much arguing, Sarah had eagerly become a student at the local college and devoted herself to her studies. She had been determined not to let her brother down.
    Positive that his kid sister was on the fast track to adulthood, Josh had finally let loose. He followed his own path; straight to the surf and hanging out with his ‘buds’.
    Having fought their way through the hard times, Sarah was happy to see Josh finally enjoying himself. With the struggle safely behind them, they’d comfortably settled into their new life as scholarly sister and surfer brother. She’d felt more indebted to him than he could ever know.
    Sarah had often thought that life had been unfair to her older brother, and sometimes felt guilty for being the reason he’d lost so many years of young adulthood. Three years of his youth had