When you are young it is your parents’ responsibility to raise and care for you, through the tough times they are always there for you. I am still young and my parents are always there for me, reminding me to be careful while I’m driving, or helping me with my homework.
As I have gotten older I’ve started to realize that they have always been there for me no matter what, so when they need me I should be there for them. When they grow older and they can’t do what they need to, I should be there to take care of them, and to help them with what they need. We are responsible for our families and we need to take care of each other.

In the past two or three years I have experienced life in a whole new way. Three years ago while my grandpa was out jogging he fell and broke his spinal cord, paralyzing him from the neck down. My grandpa has not stepped foot into his old house in Iowa since he fell. For the first couple of weeks he could not move at all from the neck down. Through rehab he has gained strength in his arms and legs but his abilities are limited due to his wheel chair.

A few years ago my family moved in with my grandparents because it would be too much work for my grandma to take care of him by herself. Some of the things that are difficult for her to do on a regular basis are getting him out of bed, and getting him onto his exercise equipment. When my grandma has any pain or feels like she can’t move my grandpa very easily my dad is there to help move him. My grandpa has now been able to walk with a walker and a person to support him for about a year or two now and this was a huge accomplishment. One new thing that he has just started to be able to do is stand up by holding on to a bar that I set up in his doorway.

My moms’ parents took care of her when she was young. They raised her, took care of her when she was sick, even took care of me when my parents were either out of town or just needed a break from parenting. Now that her dad is not able to do much on his own and it is hard for my grandma to do everything she needs to do to take care of him our family has moved in with each other to take care of him. My parents have taken care of me while I am growing up and they are pushing me to do my best in school. When they get older like my mom’s parents if they need me for any reason at all I will be there for them like my family is for my grandparents.

I feel that it is my responsibility to take care of my family. When I need them they are there for me and when they need me later in my life I will be there for them. This has made a huge impact in my life and in my entire families’ life and it has shown me that you need to always be there for your family when times get tough. I think that everyone can or will be able to relate to this at some point in their life, maybe it’s not right now but when the time comes that someone needs you, you need to be ready to do whatever it takes to be there for them.