Growing up in my family is probably one of the most difficult things a person can do, so I suggest if anyone is willing to try it, be prepared with your armor. But seriously though, growing up in a religious household where everything you do is wrong, and you’re the middle child is really not as great as it seems. I was admired so much when I was younger, though the admiration only lasted for about 4 years when my mom decided she wanted another. Here is some advice for anyone out there wanting to have children, DON’T HAVE THREE!! When you have three children there is always a middle child, and that child, whether you like it or not will be not admired as much as the other kids. I was that child, “Jimmy, leave your brother alone!” “Jimmy, take out the trash!” “Jimmy, you’re such a girl!” No matter what my brother and sister did they were always right, I could never win.

Being a Seventh Day Adventist we always went to church on Saturdays. What is this, a different day than Sunday to go to church? I was always criticized and asked questions about my religion. And anyways, being a Seventh Day Adventist growing up wasn’t that great anyway, the religion was so strict that you could barely walk down the street and wave to someone without sinning. My mom was always taught growing up that all electronics should be shut off by sunset on Friday night, that certain foods could not be eaten, and so forth. Growing up with her being taught those rules, she tried to enforce them, but of course teenagers in the 21st century aren’t going to listen to their parents, so those rules were quickly disposed of.

One religious experience I remember very vividly was when my great grandmother died. A great mix of emotions went around that day, of course everyone was very sad at the passing of my great grandmother, but there was a moment where each relative had the chance to say something about her, and that moment I will never forget. Certain relatives would get up and tell ridiculous stories about how they were forced to eat gross food, and how strict she was, and it made everyone burst out with laughter! You wouldn’t believe that a funeral could be like a comedy show, but it was indeed. The funniest part about it to me was the fact that everyone had tears in their eyes, both from crying at the loss of my great grandmother, and because they were laughing so hard at the brilliant memories!

Then there were those times where my family would go camping, oh boy was that always a treat, just like a sitcom. First, in the morning my dad, my mom, and I because I’m the oldest boy had to get the camper attached to the car. That was always interesting here we are blocking off the whole street trying to attach a camper to a car, I always hoped none of my friends would come by and see me in my pajamas still. Then once everything was packed up we would head to the campground, and after the bumpy rides, which afterwards I always got sick from, we would arrive. Now that we arrived at the campground, my dad had to back up into a space and I always was worried that he would hit me by mistake, but it hasn’t happened yet. I would always be yelled at helping him out; everything I did was wrong, “JIMMY MOVE OUT OF THE WAY!” “JIMMY NO NEED TO HELP JUST SIT THERE LIKE AN IDIOT!” Even if I was constantly helping, my brother and sister were always off the hook, just sitting there like little angels, not having to do anything, and twiddling their thumbs. Once we were settled in we would usually plan out our week, of course naturally when you go camping you stay at the campground, not our family! We would always find things to do around the area where our campground was, which to others was odd. We never went “real” camping I guess you could say, we had a camper with electricity, heat, and air conditioning. It was quite nice, and even though I always complained about it I did enjoy it partly, and I jumped at the chance for any excuse to get away from my stupid town!
My parents, in my younger years tried getting me involved with sports, just to get me interested in something, and I can’t blame them for trying, even if it was a complete failure. I tried baseball, and of course I would be thrown into the outfield, all by myself, and did I pay attention while I was out there? Of course not, I was singing, playing with my hat, and not at all involved with what I was doing. I would always complain about going to practice because I hated it so much. I strictly remember always getting butterflies in the pit of my stomach every time my dad would say, “Let’s go to practice.” I would always be hit by the ball when it was my turn to bat, or even if I was in the outfield, believe it or not I still was injured. But even if I wanted to not play baseball anymore it was the hardest thing to tell my dad, because naturally a father growing up watching sports wants his son to play sports as well, but after a while I just couldn’t do it any longer.

It honestly took the longest time for my parents to realize that sports were NOT for me, but when they did I’m sure my dad was not happy to hear it. I’m sure my dad never wanted to speak to me again, but I didn’t care, as long as I didn’t have to suffer through that any longer. So I found music and theatre! Boy was I thrilled when I found out I could do something! Acting on stage was always a release for me from the stresses of school, and my parents always nagging me, and I’m always thankful my school had some sort of program to offer me. I all of a sudden found that my parents started having more respect for me as one of their children; I was now brought up in my mom’s constant conversation about her children to her friends. “Michaels my son that plays sports, but my JIMMY, he’s my actor, when he’s on stage he just makes me melt!” Wow it was great to hear my mom’s words of admiration again, since they felt long gone, they finally returned.

Now I don’t want you to think that growing up being Jimmy is all bad because it really wasn’t. There were always good moments as well! For my senior musical my family all decided to come and see me, my mom had never been so excited! This was my first lead in a musical, so to her it was a big deal. She called up every one of our relatives, even the ones that we didn’t even talk to, and told them all about it. Most of my relatives did end up coming, and they enjoyed the show thoroughly. That day I will remember in my life because any moments in my life where my family respects me and appreciates me for what I do, I enjoy.

Now there’s my grandmother, she’s quite a character. When I was small I used to always go over her house on Sundays to eat pasta and just to bond. She would call us in the morning in her cute, little Italian accent and tell us that lunch would be ready in an hour or so. She never told us the right amount of time for the food to be ready, we would go over in an hour and she wouldn’t have put the pasta on the stove yet. We would walk in and see her cooking, in her dirty clothes, her hair all done (she was a hair dresser so she always had nice hair), and waiting for us to arrive. When it was time to eat lunch we would all sit at the table, after fighting to see who would have to set the table, and then my Nunna would say, “Who wants to say the blessing” and we would fight over who would have to do that as well, while my Nunna told us how disappointed she was we wouldn’t say it. Then we would eat and share funny memories, and my Pappa would always come in late to eat, and ask “Who’s going to say the blessing now?” and we always would know what he said when he sat down, it was always fun!

Though there were many memories that I love to think about there are memories that I hate thinking about, all those years playing baseball were such a waste of time, and I hated getting yelled at by my coach. Growing up with my brother and sisters constant teasing of me and my mom’s constant nagging for me to “CLEAN YOUR ROOM” and “PUT YOUR THINGS AWAY!” Never was there a dull moment in my house growing up because there was always somebody making fun of another or one person torturing another person. Though we do tease each other constantly, and trust me that armor will come in handy, we are one close family, and nothing will be able to break us.