My Family Essay

I'm very grateful to have a family that loves me! When the whole family is together, it makes me feel safe, like nothing awful can happen to me; when we are all together they make things easier. My family treats not only me, but others with respect. I always try to avoid thinking about what would happen to me if I didn't have a family. I feel when most people come to think of it, it makes you wonder. Who would you be today? Where would you be today? How would you grow up? It's always those things that get to you. In my opinion, it's safe to say we are all very lucky to be in the country we are in. However, these people include; parents, grandparents, and sister.

Researching my family and my background, I have found that I have ancestors from several countries, including Germany, Sweden, England, Ireland, and Scotland. They all came to America for a variety of reasons ranging from religious persecution, hope for a better life with better economic conditions, famine, family issues, and to colonize America.

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.

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.

I had a loving and warm upbringing. My family consists of four children and married parents. My parents work very hard to ensure that all their childrenren succeed and do the best they can. Every night my mother prepared a beautiful family meal that we shared together as a family.

My family is not the most interesting but of course there are some secrets that can be dug up from the present and the past. Theres the good the bad and the ugly in every family. Whether you like to admit it or not. It's just something you have to be willing to accept about people in our families. Some are betters than others and some are just plain out ugly. The first half of my paper will be about my mother's side. Which tends to be more of the drug addicts and other ugly habits. When my father side is more of the better parts of my genetically inherited traits.

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

My immediate family is rather small, it consists of my Dad age 55, my Mom age 60 and myself age 21. All three of us are Caucasian. My Mom and Dad got married when they were much older, and they did not have me until they were 40 years of age. They are a little more traditional and they each take on their own roles in the family along with myself. My mother works Monday to Friday however she is the one who cooks the meals every evening, the one who cleans the house, does laundry and does the grocery shopping. My Dad works a longer day and makes the majority of our household income. He comes home and enjoys his evening watching the news and then sports. I go to school, work, and then I come home to a home cooked meal, and a clean house. The boundaries are fairly rigid in my household, my dad mostly stays away from the cooking, grocery shopping and cleaning as that is my mother’s role in the house and as much as she can complain about it I do believe she would be lost without it. There are only two subsystems identified in my family, they would be husband-wife, and parent-child.

I grew up in a very normal family with a mom, dad, one brother and three sisters. Since I’m the baby of the family, my mom stayed home until I started school. My mom worked in payroll and accounting, and my dad was a computer engineer. My brother is the oldest and did his best to tease all four younger sisters equally. He was very good at his “job”, but I knew he loved me because he opened doors for me and even braided my hair on occasion. My three older sisters watched out for me, especially my oldest sister; she became my second mom. My sisters fought a bit, but it wasn’t anything horrible or abnormal. We were a pretty happy family that did a lot of fun things together and were loved by our wonderful parents. At least that’s what I remembered, but there were times that I wondered if I was loved at all. Was I just the baby of five kids, five years younger than my closest sibling, and easily forgotten?

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.

Researching my family and my background I have found that I have ancestors from several countries including Germany, Sweden, England, Ireland, and Scotland. They all came to America for a variety of reasons ranging from religious persecution, hope for a better life with better economic conditions, famine, family issues, and to colonize America.

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.

When I was younger, my mom would rent out our basement room to single people she would work with in the military. I personally loved it because it meant that there were more people around I could harass into playing with me. However, I was always confused when I would hear my grandparents berate my mother for letting “those people” into our home. I remained confused, until I asked my mother what they meant, and why they were so angry. She described to me how “old fashioned” my grandparents were and how they didn’t believe in surrounding not only the family, but me in particular, with people who identified as ‘gay’. I sat quietly for a long time before my mother asked if I felt it mattered. I responded that I truly didn’t, and carried on with my activities for the day.

The morning of February 8th, 2015 began like any other Sunday. My family and I all woke up late and missed church. Then we all got ready and started on the tasks that need to be accomplished for the day. Little did we know that the events which would take place that afternoon would sparked a change forever leaving a billowing smoky haze on mine and my family’s life.