Family. The people you’re either blessed with, or cursed with. Sure, everyone is affected by their relatives in one way or another, but not everyone has the same outcome as a result.
Personally, I’m not an exceptional human being. I’m not working on a cure for cancer or saving woodland animals from extinction in my spare time. As a matter of fact, the only “unique” thing about me is my family. They’re a colorful bunch from all walks of life, and I can’t say that we’re a modern day Bradey Bunch, but we make it work.
There’s not a sole member of my family that I can hold responsible for being a big part of who I am today, because it’s been many individuals who have had a hand in shaping me. My mom, for instance. She’s a tough cookie who has relentlessly told me “if it ain’t broken or bleedin’, don’t cry about it”. Her words have gotten me through pain of any variety, and she very likely has no clue that they have. She’s been my toughest critic and greatest supporter. And my dad, well, he’s partially the reason I picked up a pen and paper and fell in love with writing one day. He taught me how to express myself in a way more meaningful than tears or angry gestures through words and music. Song has always been a bond we have shared since I was a young girl. What he taught me has brought us closer than most step parents and their step children ever experience. My grandparents, Agoo and Honey, are just about as strange and wonderful as the names I gave them when I first started speaking. Agoo, my grandmother, has shown me the beauty of all the small things life has to offer. Through “bubble therapy”, garden mud, and sidewalk chalk, she opened my eyes to adventure and imagination. She has been the best playmate a child could ask for. Honey, on the other hand, is a man of few words, but, when he had something to say, it is always worth listening to. My grandfather has shown me that, regardless of what everyone else may say, breaking the rules is sometimes necessary. Over many bowls of ice cream, water gun fights in the house, and many a car ride with Elvis crooning from the speakers, Honey taught me that finding myself didn’t mean I have to look to other people and their conventions.
The love, hardships, and comebacks we have shared as a family unit, has transformed me into a mosaic of a young woman. I have a little piece of all of these people embedded deep within me, and every lesson they have taught me has created a future just as bright as the colorful people who have helped to get me where I am today. So whatever fate may have in store for me, whether I end up in college or flipping burgers, I have the comfort of knowing that I have already had the most hands-on education from a group of odd, wonderful, and caring teachers, and I couldn’t be more blessed than that.