Family has come to mean more to me
than just the people I live with or who I’m related to. Throughout this
semester, “family” has come to mean the people I learn from, the people I love,
the people I share memories with, and the people I know (and the people who
know me) better than anyone. Seeing my family through the lens of cultural
artifacts has helped me see a new side of my family and build a greater
appreciation for them. Through understanding my family better, I’ve been able
to see more of who I really am, and how I’ve become the person I am today
because of my family.
One of
things I have come to realize and appreciate is how much my parents have
prepared me for the “real world” and how they’ve helped me to cultivate my
interests and personality, both of which have helped me to be able to be happy
and successful. They have encouraged me to do things, and make habits that will
be in my benefit. They allowed me to make the decision to do the things they
encouraged me to do, so that I could continue to do those things not because
someone was forcing me to do them, but because I truly believed my life would
be better because of it; to make the right decisions because I wanted to, not
because they wanted me to. Because of this, I’ve been able to accomplish a lot
of hard things.
Something
hard my family has gone through is having my Grandma Great move in with us.
When my great aunt, who Grandma had lived with for much of the last portion of
her life, passed away, Grandma came to live at our house. She was very
comfortable at our house, because she would often come spend weeks at a time
while my great aunt traveled to places too far for Grandma Great to go. After
Aunt June’s passing, when she moved in with us, Grandma struggled a lot more to
remember things. When she had come to stay at our house before, she was very
independent, but now requires much more care. Because my parents encouraged me
and my siblings to be independent, we have the skills we need to make it so we are
able to help care for her. My younger sisters are able to make her breakfast in
the mornings when my mom works, and my brothers help her make her way to and
from the car, ensuring that she won’t fall. They are able to be sensitive to
her needs, and take care of her in every way possible. We have been able to
incorporate Grandma into our immediate family, and have been able to fulfill
the needs that she has.
The
experience has taught my family a lot about patience. Because of Grandma’s
waning memory, we have to keep track of whether or not she took her pills and
answer the same questions multiple times a day. My dad is a wonderful example of patience as
he tucks her into bed each night. It has shown me the depth of family ties that
can be formed, even throughout generations.
I hope that
in my future family, I will be able to raise my children in such a way that
will prepare them to face the world and its challenges. I hope that I will be
able to ignite a love of learning in my children, as my parents have in me. I
want my children to be able to have deep ties to their grandparents, like my
dad has with his grandma, as well as ties with their cousins and aunts and
uncles. I love my family and I love the traditions that my parents have begun,
the connections my extended family has, and I want to continue those things in
my future family.
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