I'm starting with a question today, and it’s not one I’ve really asked before.

Here it is.

What the damn heck is a peregrine?

Until today, to tell you the truth, I had zip, zero, no idea. Never even cared to Google it. Never really needed to know.

Well, today I learned, and what a bittersweet day it has become.

Today, my brother moved to college. His name is Jonluke.

Quick backstory first, though. Our mother, a woman whose nerdy sci-fi devotion knows few bounds, came up with this name as the Americanized version of a certain Starfleet leader on the hit show Star Trek: The Next Generation, therenowned Captain Jean-Luc Picard. This captain, played by Patrick Stewart himself, was wise, valiant, and famously bald. My brother, Jonluke, known better as JL or simply Luke (but never ever just Jon), is eighteen years old, hugely into the PC game League of Legends, and is a few thousand hairs from bald himself. But while Luke has yet to boldly go where no one in space has gone before, I’m proud to say that he would, if fiction met reality, absolutely be Starfleet material.

Now as far as "siblingships" go, the track record of ours has not been without its many speed bumps, many more ultimately bitter than sweet. But let me disclaim something: the blame is hugely on me. I intensify the simple things. I overthink. And for this, I find that I can solve problems by talking, by writing. Communication does me good, but that’s not everyone’s cup of tea, and I know it doesn’t have to be. Luke falls under this category; he doesn’t talk as much, and so because of this, I sometimes, with him, create problems instead of solving them. Like when he has wanted to talk for just a minute or two, I spew whirlwinds. And then when he hasn’t wanted to talk at all, I still end up spewing. Frustration brews, and I’ve tried very hard to work on this, to curb all the intensity. After all, he’s different and my intense-ness sometimes forgets that. He’s into numbers, whereas I’m the language lover, the storyteller. He’s the math and science brains of the house, and I helm the literature sides of things. He’s the would-be Starfleet captain. I’m just the writer at the desk. So needless to say, differences do make a difference, and due to this we’ve ended up butting heads more times than a pair of stubborn bulls, horns up, nostrils flared, adrenaline-rushed into an all-too-often senseless oblivion of sibling arguments.

But today, these things got put aside. I really wanted them to. He moved into college, hitting the bittersweet academic grind, and I’m unbelievably proud of him. As I helped him with his things, I realized that maybe for once, a big spewing talk wasn’t necessary. That it might stain the day, might cause me to say more than what needs to be said, and he deserved better than a long-winded pep talk he didn’t need. So we simply packed, drove, unpacked, grabbed lunch, and that was essentially it. But this is why for me, unlike Alexander in that popular children’s story Alexander and the Terrible, Horrible, No Good, Very Bad Day, my day may have been a bittersweet one but it definitely wasn’t terrible. Or horrible. Or a no-good, very bad one. Because for one of the first tangible times, not saying everything said everything. This might be commonplace for many of you, but I’m slow learner. I just know it was good. We were good.

So in the name of not needing to say everything and simplifying instead, I’ll just say this:Goodis good.

Anyway, this is why I’m glad I know what a peregrine is. Because until today, I didn’t care what in the name of Davy Jones a peregrine was. An animal, perhaps? A fruit? Some sort of bubbling chemical or industrial solvent?

Nope. A peregrine, as a matter of fact, is a falcon.

And it’s also the mascot of his new school, where I know he’ll pursue engineering and tennis so passionately, and he’ll undoubtedly do great things.

So if I clogged the air with words that didn’t need to be said and let an argument ensue, I may have never learned about the peregrine. And I never would’ve had a simple, awesome memory made with my brother, despite the bittersweet-ness. And while we realistically might not be out of the woods in the escape of terrible, horrible, no good, very bad days, I’m glad we had this one before his college career begins.

Simplicity, younger brothers, and falcons.

How about that.