My Family Essay

Family! Family! Family! Family can be a wonderful thing. It can be healthy or unhealthy. It can be functional or dysfunctional. Family means different things to different people. Some families are loving and close. Some families are mean, hateful, and distant. There are different types of relationships within a family unit. Relationships can be enmeshed, detached, or disengaged; these types of relationships are unhealthy. The family system can be open and homeostatic; these kinds of relationship are healthy. We are all born into different families with different situations. Sometimes life can be hard, with all of its facets and difficulties, and ups and downs. Looking at the past of one 's life can be a happy event for some, but for others, it can be tormenting to have to reminisce about the past.

As I endured the prospect of creating a genogram, I allowed myself to reflect and interpret the history and impacts that affected my family. During my review of my genogram, I was able to consider my family within a multigenerational, diverse, and socio-political context. By creating a genogram, a dialogue was started within my head and with my partner about which family traits, issues, strengths, and resiliencies made me who I am today. Subsequently, this dialogue made me aware that being raised in a small family has many advantages along with some disadvantages when acquiring information about influences and the history of preceding generations. Consequently, I did not have to contend with many conflicting recollections but I did have to rely mostly on my own memory, public records, and journals to piece together my genogram. Although all things discovered and recollected are not always fortunate on the surface, they subsist as basis to my personal resilience and strength as a gay man.

Family it has so many different definitions and they are different for each person. The dictionary definition is “a group consisting of parents and children living together in a household” or “all the descendants of a common ancestor”. My definition of family can range from blood relatives to friends of the family that have been around for some time that are practically already family. I don’t believe family is people that are just blood but those that have had such a deep/ emotional impact on your life that consider them deeper then friends. Also on the other hand you can have people that are blood with you but not consider them family because of personal or other reasons.

To a lot of people, having the same blood running through your veins, means a lot. To some it means that it automatically claims you to be family. Others may think being blood related means you’re more important to them then someone who may not be. But to me, blood has nothing to do with who you care about and who you consider family. It doesn’t shape you as a person and doesn’t define who you are going to be. I am adopted, therefore, most of my family and I do not share the same DNA. But I have learned that it doesn’t matter if you have the same color hair as your mother, or the same eyes as your father. What matters is the love and the care that people share for you, that’s what makes you family.

Over the past years of my life, many things have changed, including my friends, lifestyle, religious beliefs and jobs. With everything constantly changing around me, there is one thing that has always stayed the same: my family. When I think about my most blissful moments in life, they all involve my family. My relationship with my parents, brother, husband and children is something that I learn to treasure more and more every day. There are many significant things in my life, but the most important relationship to me is family.

Throughout my high school years, I tend to be a very hard worker. When given an assignment or project, I do not like to procrastinate and wait till the night before it is due to work on it. I like to be organized with my schedule and plan to work on assignments a few days before they’re due so I can double and triple check the work and turn it in with little to no errors. Sometimes I can be forgetful because I am human so I am forced to work on some assignments the night before, but I make sure the assignments I am given are completed. I am also known to be very picky on my likes and don’t likes so it’s harder for me to make decisions by myself compared to when I am around my peers. Needless to say, my family and friends are considered to be a big part of my life since I tend to be around them the most.

For all my life my family has been very close. My mother’s family has always been close by and we have always celebrated every holiday together, spent birthdays and we always got together to eat dinner. Even though my father’s side of the family lives scattered throughout the country we always found times to travel and see each other. We did not see each other on holidays except for Thanksgiving. Thanksgiving is my favorite holiday because it is the one time of the year I get to spend with my entire family. I always love the craziness and even though my father hates cooking for forty people he does it because it is so important to my family. He knows the only thing that matters is our family is all there and it brings us all closer for that one time of the year. My family on paper seems happy and perfect but it is not. My family has had stressful times with illness and deaths and when people thought it would tear us apart it did not it brought us all closer.

Ever since I was born my mother has been supporting our family all by herself. She so often asked for help from family members and friends, but ultimately she was the one holding our family together. When I was younger, I never actually understood how bad my mother was struggling to keep our family together. I’ve never seen her cry, or break down over the stress she is under. I always thought my life was great until I got older and started realizing that there’s more to the story. I’m very grateful to have everything that I have, but it’s not the same when I see others with a better.

I belong to many different primary and secondary groups. Some of the primary groups I belong to are, my family group, my close friends and my religious beliefs. I also belong to many secondary groups. They are my distant family relatives, my workplace and my classmates. In my family group the members include my mother, Amanda McDougall, my father, Chris Lee, my brother, Jayden Lee and myself, Mackenzie Lee. I love every member in this group with all my heart. Every member also has a very important role and if one member wasn’t to pull their weight then the group would fall apart. My mother’s role that she partakes in the group, is doing all the motherly chores, such as cleaning the dishes, washing our clothes, sweeping, mopping, etc. She also always makes sure that my brother and I are clean, healthy and most importantly happy. My mother is the most important member in the group in my opinion. If she is even gone for a few hours, the house could be completely clean when she leaves, and by the time she gets back it is a disaster! I greatly appreciate everything my mother does for my brother and I. She doesn’t act like a mother, more like a friend. I feel comfortable to talk to her about anything and I don’t know what I would do without her. She is the strongest person I know. My father also has a major role in the group. My dad goes to work everyday and works his butt off to make sure my mother, my brother and I have food in our stomachs and have nice things. My brother and I

I was born into a very close family. For three years it was just my parents and me; later my sister came along. The most important thing to me with my family is how close we are. I have always felt that I can tell my mom, dad, or sister anything that has happened in my life. We have always been very honest and open to each other. I have always gotten along with my parents. My dad is a stock broker and this past year I interned in his office. I wasn’t a huge fan of being in an office taking calls most the day; that career path is probably not in my future. My mom used to be an interior designer before we moved from New York City to Park City, Utah. She now mostly spends her time hiking, biking, and going to the gym. My sister and I have always gotten along very well, she also plays lacrosse and aspires to play in college as well.

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

Family is the most important thing in life. Family means “a group of people related to one another by blood or marriage.” (Dictionary). Therefore, “families provide all members with security, identity and values, regardless of age. When a member of the family feels insecure or unsafe, he turns to his family for help. He learns about his sense of self and gains a foundation for the rest of his life. This foundation includes the family's values which provide the basis for his own moral code. Spending time with family shows individuals the value of love, appreciation and open communication.” (Why family is important). We can always count on them. I value my family the most because they have always been there for me and has never gave up on me.

Every aspect of life plays an important role to my life, as I continue to understand about myself. Throughout the process of gathering informations about the three generations of my family, I have learned many new information regarding myself. Sometimes these information can become severe as the time passes, which can change my life in many different directions. With this being said, cancer and diabetes can play an important role in my life, according to my family genome. There are many aspects to genetics that can affect how a person is developed throughout their life. My development is due to my family’s values, beliefs, genetics, and traditions.

Feeling the confusion of not knowing my true identity? Starring at the pain of growing up not knowing my father, and watching my mother shut me out to be with a man, she hardly even knows? Watching as the pain and struggle has continuously tormented my heart leaving me the only escape of climbing into the unknown. Moving in with my aunt and uncle saved my life; they gave me the family I have always dreamed for.

Family- a single word, with many different meanings. People have many ways of defining a family and what being a part of a family means to them. Families differ in terms of economic, cultural, social, and many other facets, but what every family has in common is that the people who call it a family are making clear that those people are important in some way to the person calling them his family.