My Family And My Life

Growing up in a big family can be tough some days, although I would not have it any other way. My mom has four siblings and my dad has five, blessing me with over twenty first cousins and an extended family that is too large to count. I was also fortunate enough to have both sets of grandparents and several great grandparents as an active part of my life. I am the youngest of three kids, having an older brother and an older sister. Being the baby of the family growing up I did not get in much trouble for I had two older siblings to blame my mistakes on. Some people define family as, “any group of persons closely related by blood, as parents, children, uncles, aunts, and cousins” (dictionary.com), while I define it as those

I come from a family of eight, me being the youngest. My father worked to support all of us and our mom raised us at home ensuring we were fed and clothed. They both taught us that family is very important and no matter what, we need to be there for each other. As a family, we have experienced many trials such as losing our home to a house fire, siblings having fall outs with each other and with my parents, and my father losing his job after working at the company for 20 plus years. No matter what difficulties we faced, we were always able to get through them. Even the difficulties we face on our own, our family was there to provide the support we need.

The past two years have been the hardest in all of my seventeen years of living. Choosing a topic is both easy and difficult due to how personal it may become. However, the highlight of the past two years belongs to my family life, and the actions of a certain former member that has affected the lives of many in my family. This person was in my life for over a decade up until around May of 2016, where the year truly kicked off for the family.

I define family by a group of people that communicate on regular basic, care for each other, and love each other unconditionally. I think that I was able to construct that definition when I realized that my “relatives” weren’t related to me at all. And then realized I talk to the people who I was related to all more than the people who were considered “blood”. I’ve never been to a family house where I have considered them perfect, every family has their personal issues as well as their own strength.

My family are like branches on a tree, we all grow in different directions, at different paces but our roots will always run deep. Family will always come first to me, above all else; coming from a home with no father, the only father figure i had was my grandfather, to me family is so important because it is who we come from. Family

Through our values, heritage,and traditions, my family has created who I am today. Although we can be loud and crazy, we are also loving and have each other's back!

Family is typically seen as something that is defined by genetics and the idea that blood is what makes a family. This could not be less true. In today’s society family should not be defined by the blood that runs through your veins or your last name, it should be the amount of love that exudes from your heart. Whether you were born into a family, adopted or in the foster care system, your family members are the ones who you share moments of love and joy with, not just a last name.

Webster’s dictionary defines a family as “a group of people sharing a common ancestry”. While some families, such as those with bank robbers, drug dealers or users, and mass murderers are notorious and other family members would like to forget about the non-conformers, most people take pride in their lineage. Ask almost anyone about their family and they will be sure to relate how many doctors, lawyers, congressmen, etc. they have in their bloodline. You will probably see a strong connection from generation to generation.

What family is is sticking up for one another. If one of you get into some kind of trouble and asks for your help, you help them. If your friends and they come to you in the middle of the night and need your help, you jump out of the window and help them out because you care for them and you love them. Tragedy struck and someone you love needs you right now, you’re already there comforting them. Someone gets into a fight, you go in there and risk it to try and stop it.

Family comes in all shapes and sizes; color, similarities and differences, but at the heart of it all, family is the solidified foundation to one belonging and feeling loved.

Although family means different things to different people. To me, family isn’t who is blood related, but who is always there for you. According to Jagger and Wright from Erera’s article “What is Family?”, “The groupings that are called families are socially

Family means something different to every person, no matter if related by blood or choice, all people have others that they hold near to them. Through these special people a vast range of traditions and customs are passed down throughout the lineage of one’s family. Traditions vary from every household depending on a person’s heritage and new practices they have picked up along the way. For my family during holidays and times of celebration our family is very meaningful, we gather to celebrate holidays, birthdays, and graduations or any other reason we can find a reason to get together. Though each family has different traditions there is some degree of similarity through people’s origin.

Family is a term that is everyone is familiar with and in the English language it has a multitude of uses. The word family originated from Latin and was actually called familia. Familia was used for describing a family or servants. Fast forward to the 21st century and we use this word for everything from relatives to a way to classify an organism. Now I agree that all of these definitions of family make sense in the ways that they are used, but the common way of thinking about family I think should interpreted differently. As for a certain few people with, myself included, they may not be very close or be in good standing with their families and with that being said a new type of family tends to be created. Family comes down to four core qualities to me; being a close friend whom I am able to open up to, loyalty, trust, and being compassionate.

My family has always been very close. We spend a great deal of time together and express our deep feelings and emotions with one another. If one of us has an issue, every member of the family is aware of it and shares the burden. When a person in the family does not share significant information about one’s life with the rest of the members, there is hurt feelings. Also, if a member cannot attend a family event, the family feels disappointed and misses the absent member. It is evident that connectedness is held as extremely valuable.

No one can’t meet a family like mine’s. My family is well diversified. Every family member plays an important role in all my family’s lives. In my family, there are four people: my father, my mother, my little brother and me. My father is one who brings money home and is also responsible for organizing and planning family trips. My mother is the one who is in charge for making meals and makes sure everyone eats at the appropriate times. My little brother is the pet of the family. He actually doesn’t have any responsibilities, for he’s the pet. I am the rock of support in my family. I always go beyond my parents’ expectations. I also support my younger cousins and little brother, by being a role model that they can look up to. Another