My Family Essay

In 1974, my mother, and her lower class family, emigrated from Canada to New City, New York. They moved frequently back and forth between various American and Canadian cities due to my grandfather’s lack of finding long-term employment; he has a book filled with pages upon pages of business cards and papers recording his numerous previous employers. Eventually, my grandfather found a steady job in print, working for the New York Times in 1985, my grandmother opened her own bookstore for a brief period in time, and my mother and her siblings all attended and graduated from four-year colleges. The entire family continues to retain sole Canadian citizenship. As improved a life they have been provided, not all immigration stories have such a happy ending. Most immigrant families coming from south of the United States border, in the same financial situation as my mother and her family had been, will not have such luck. They are stuck in a paradox of stereotypes, between being perceived by the suburban white family as “lazy” or “taking all of our jobs.” Why is it that we turn a blind eye to our neighbors to the north, as if they collectively live up to the stereotype of unfaltering niceness? Though much has been said about these immigrants coming to the United States from Latin America, very little attention is being paid to the immigrants coming from Canada and Western Europe due to prejudice.

Growing up as a kid, the people I looked up to the most were my parents. As I got older I started to realize how much I started to influence my sister's and started becoming a role model to them. My family growing up hasn't been the greatest family or really even a normal one from what I think a family should actually be. ️

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.

Anybody who knows me, knows that my family situation is pretty crazy. Just describing my immediate family sometimes baffles people and leads me into having to explain in more detail the constitution of my family. For starters, My mother came from the Philippines and my Dad is currently 77. Let’s dive into the details of my family.

I knew from a young age that my family was what one would call, special. This “special” was my normal and my normal was no one else’s normal. Not a day has gone by that I have not been thankful for my Dad and his brothers, they have hard exteriors, but they’re mush on the inside. They are “professional idiots” my Mom would always say.

Intro: No one on this earth is created equally. If everyone was the same, Would we get along? No. Our Differences as humans cause us to create a discussion with other people, and get to know each other better through conversation. Also, understanding and respecting other people helps us grow .If we were all the same there would be nothing to learn about other people. We wouldn’t make friends. Finding something in common with someone creates a special bond because not everyone has that in common. Everybody has their own interests, preferences, and character traits. Not even twins are the same people, even though they are identical they develop their own interests. Nobody in this world is just like me, and nobody ever will be.

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 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.

As we all know, every relationship is different from the next. They all start at different stages in life, for different reasons, and push forward at different speeds. For this essay, I chose to interview three of my own family members and their spouses to gather the information I needed to thoroughly write this essay. In the process of each interview, it was clear to me that our authors were right; people discover love, they don’t just find it (Lamanna & Riedmann, 2012, p. 142). In other words, finding “the one” doesn’t just happen instantly. Instead, it develops over time and differently than any other couple. To show the truth behind this statement, I’m going to be using different concepts to describe three different couples’ stories and reasons behind choosing the partners they chose. I will also be comparing and contrasting the three couples and offering my personal opinions.

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.