One came first, then his brother. Then another wanted in, too.

It started with the oldest, our first season. His brother followed soon after, the way it tends to go when something is working in a family. Then another signed up for Fancy Dance, the littles’ program, eager to find out for himself what had his big brothers coming home with as many laughs as helpful tips.

It happens often at Cotillion schools, and we have had the phenomenon grace us at Capitol. It’s as if it’s baked into the experience, which has come as a surprise to me as the founder. I’m an only child who missed this part when I attended Cotillion. At the start of Capitol’s third season, I’m just getting to enjoy it now. I thought I’d try to share what imagery fills my heart as I do.

A Thanksgiving table has thoughtful seating plans, and the good china comes out. No one insists, it’s that the family all understand how elevating the occasion connects hearts in elevated ways. The youngest watches the older ones, the way he always has, picking up what a curated table looks like, what meaningful conversation sounds like, what good company feels like.

Christmas runs long, morning into afternoon into evening, nobody checking the clock, because the family genuinely likes being in a room together.

A wedding, maybe their own, where the reception skips any stand-around shuffle. The dancing is beautiful and fun, and lots of adults are enjoying it. A young man leads someone onto the floor like he’s done it a hundred times, because he has. Maybe it’s his grandmother, and maybe it makes a memory for everyone in the room.

A job interview, the first one that truly matters, unfolds as the family waits for the update by phonecall not text. Quiet confidence accompanies them instead of dread. They don’t know what he’ll be asked or whether the interviewer will be gracious, but they know their boy — how he shakes a hand, holds someone’s gaze, finds something true to say and says it well. They gave him all that, one ordinary Tuesday session at a time, sharing the lessons and practice along the way, compounding and fine-tuning his skills, long before they realized the magnitude of that gift.

Further out, dinner between grown brothers runs long because each one values the strong, sturdy fabric of their family woven into it through the graces learned at Cotillion and because, not only is it fun, it’s just what they do.

I’m so fortunate to be part of the beginnings of this for families here in Topeka. In sharing tales of this sibling facet of Cotillion with friends I’ve made along my journey as a founder - other Cotillion directors in other cities, I’ve learned it doesn’t happen by accident. It is built early — now.

Season 3 opens today. We’d love to have your family among the ones building something worth inheriting.

One of these boys followed his big brothers to Cotillion. Another one has little brothers coming up right behind him.