Big brothers can be a lot of things. I know this because I speak from experience.
At times you think their main goal in life is to tease and or tick you off. And I’m not entirely convinced this isn’t their main goal.
Despite that, big brothers can be something else entirely. The guy who is ready to beat up whoever made you cry—unless he’s sitting beside while you cry watching something on TV. Then he will laugh at you and call you a girl—as if that were an insult, since yes, you are a girl.
He’s the guy that will comfort you when you are truly sad and be the rock you need when you think your world is tumbling. He’s the guy that will be a goof and get you laughing again when you are mad—even when he is the one you are mad at.
And the more years between your big brother and you, the more power he has to do all those things.
Max Tingle and I not only have big brothers in common, we also have brothers who are 5 years older than us in common.
Noah Tingle is an amazing big brother.
12-year-old Max is the younger brother to 17-year-old Noah. And these two have the sweetest story.
Their community and the internet at large have been getting a lot of laughs because of the two lately.
But while some laughs are part of his motivation, Noah explains that it’s about more than that. He tells TODAY Parents:
“I decided to start putting the costumes on to get him off the bus to embarrass him, but at the same time, be able to make memories with my brother before I leave for college.”
Doesn’t that just make you want to say aww! Because it is very sweet.
The ritual started on August 13, 2019, which was his younger brother’s first day back in school after summer break.
In an interview with KMOV4, max expresses his feelings.
“At first I was surprised and kind of embarrassed. But now I’m just used to it.”
Their mother Stacy had the following to share with TODAY Parents.
“When he wanted to dress up and get Max off the bus, I just laughed and walked away,” she shared. “His older sister took the first video. Then, when he wanted to do it the next day, I helped him out with the fun and started to video for him.”
Eventually, the community got involved.
Noah explains,
“The first couple of outfits or costumes I wore were things I threw together from my closet. After that, we began to receive costume donations, so I began to wear those.”
And the impact of this gesture continued to grow.
In January of 2020, CBN News said that Noah wanted to share something upbeat and fun with viewers because so much of the news is negative.
“Looking at a lot of the news today, there’s a lot of negative and to see something like this, something positive – people love it.”
And people really do love it.
CBN News also shares that the Bus Brother Facebook page is also used as a platform to help and encourage any that are struggling. For example, one of their young fans was being bullied at school. So they offered encouragement.
“We heard that people aren’t being very kind to you at school. We wanted to let you know that we’ve been through that and to keep your head up. We’re sorry that they treated you like this. We wish everybody kind and happy. Keep your head up. We hope that you have a great rest of your school year. We think you’re awesome.”
And now for a dose of reality.
Noah is an amazing young man and big brother. We have ample proof of that.
But I’d like to leave you with something to show that Noah is also a very typical big brother. The kind of big brother who tries to put you out in the trash—as a joke, of course!
Because as you laugh yourself silly, trying to hold on to the sides and save yourself, you know your big brother loves you just as much as you love him.
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