Thanksgiving is just around the corner and families are coming together, including the college kids who have been gone for a while. Many Riverside Brookfield students have older siblings who are in college and are very excited to see them again for the break.

Junior Karen Valdez has two older brothers and she has a very close relationship with the both of them. She does not see her oldest brother Manny, who is twenty three and attends Northern Illinois University, often. Donell, nineteen, attends Triton and stays at home, though. Valdez is very excited to just stay in watching movies, and going out late at night with her brothers because they are her best friends and they tell each other things you usually would not tell your parents.

Donell Valdez loves that his siblings have a great sense of humor and that they have so much fun together because they get along so well.

“I get happy when they come home because they are my best friends, and seeing your best friend makes you happy obviously,” said Valdez.

Sophomore Erin Redovan’s favorite thing about his sister Angel, who goes to Columbia University, is that she drives him everywhere. She comes home on the weekends but Redovan is excited for his sister to watch him at his basketball tournament.

Audrey Santora, sophomore, goes to Michigan for Thanksgiving every year, but this year it’s even more special because she has not seen her sister Marly in a while. Santora’s sister attends University of Chicago and she sees her some weekends but it usually is only for a few hours. Santora is especially excited to spend time and catch up with her sister. Her sister is her inspiration because she is very self-motivated and a hard worker.

“We weren’t that close when she lived here but since she has left I realized how much I miss her so I’m trying to bond with her more,” said Santora.

It seems to be usual that once siblings are separated they realize how much they miss each other and then start to have a closer relationship.

“I wasn’t that close with him but then when he went to college I feel like we just became closer because we missed each other,” said Gomorczak.

Casey Gomorczak loves to play video games with his sister and at college he misses his family and pets.

Sophomore Georgi Gomorczak has an older brother, Casey, who is 18 and attends Ball State University. She doesn’t seen him very often. The last time she saw them was for a family weekend a while ago. She loves his sense of humor because he doesn’t try to be funny, but always ends up making her laugh.