My Family

I woke up and it was a new day, where everything was normal, but it wasn't, my brother wasn't there. Over the years I grew up with my brothers and two dogs which one looked like a fatten up sausage ready to be eaten. I learned to love and live with them. They were my best friends and I spent most of my days with them. Playing history games or other similar games which they were a massive part of my life. One day that all stopped when the wind died down all was left was me and my final brother. (2)

Family is very important to me. Without them, I wouldn’t be the person I am today. I was born in silver spring Maryland which is a pretty diverse place. Compared to others around me I have a small family. My family includes my younger sister who is 16, my mom, and our dog Mikey. Also included in my household is my mom’s husband and his daughter. Note how I didn’t say they were my family. I don’t really consider them family. They don’t really exist to me. As the oldest out of my sister and I, I have to take on a lot of responsibilities and make sure that I set a good example for my sister to follow. Since my sister and I are close in age we bump heads a lot and get into many arguments because sometimes she feels like I’m trying to be her mother and tell her what to do.

I am so thankful for my family. Each and every member of my family has taught me a valuable lesson and loved me every day. They are all so strong and this is a quality I strive to have and continue throughout later generations. My family is not a group of bodybuilders or crazy gym rats. We are mentally strong. We have gone through tough days that we never thought would end. Those times still hurt but we made it through them together because we stood by each other and loved one another every step of the way. My family is not what others may picture as the perfect family but they are perfect to me.

Everyone has someone in their life that makes you feel better when you're sad or cares about you eternally, no matter what. That is my family, specifically my Dad, my Mom and my brother Brian. Some people take their family for granted, but I know that without my parents I wouldn’t have a roof over my head or food on a plate or even clothes on my back. Without my brother, I might not have played any sports, my brother is the one who introduced all types of sports into my life and motivated me to do my best.

Being the younger brother in the family is never the easiest: never getting choice priority, losing control of the TV remote, and surely, the hand-me-downs. The only benefit I got from being younger was undoubtedly being the cutest of the family. Fortunately for my brother living his “older brother world,” he did not have to endure the expectations put upon me to be like him. He was able to leave the house sooner, missing out on the captivating family drama in the Tran household. I, the lone sibling at home, went through it all. No matter how difficult it was, it happened, and it made me who I am today.

“Work hard, never give up, and most importantly, always stay humble and kind”, these are just a few words my father would say to me when he had the chance or felt that I needed to hear that. My mother would say, “Mickey, as long as you believe in yourself, you can do anything”. To this day, I live my life through proverbs, quotes, and advice from a variety of people. I am very family-oriented. Most of the things I do is in hopes that I can augment some type of valuable contribution to my family and others. To begin to tell my story, I will first start by talking about the people who had the biggest influence on my life.

Growing up as a Mexican-American was extremely difficult for me. Unfortunately, I was born into a society were divorce was uncommon or looked down upon. Therefore, I wasn’t raised in a “stable” or “normal” family, which usually consists of a father and mother. Instead, my family was rather “odd,” it only consisted of four people; me, my single mother, my eldest brother, who is five years older than me, and my other brother, who is only two years older than me. The problem with my family, was that we did not practice “hardcore” Mexican traditions. For instance, Mexicans teach their children Spanish as their first language. This was not the case when we were being raised. My mother worked long shifts at a bank, therefore my grandparents played a significant parental role while I was growing up. My grandparents were not necessarily old, they had my mother when they were twenty years old and my mother had me when she was thirty. Thus, they were rather “young” for them to be the stereotypical Mexican grandparents.

What would you do if one day you got the chance to look in another person's life. If you want to follow me into my loving and caring house, you will learn all about my family. You will learn what makes us unique. You will also learn about how each member is important to me. What you find out may surprise you or terrify you. One thing though that my family sticks by is a line from the disney movie lilo and stitch: “Ohana means family, family means nobody gets left behind or forgotten.” So if you would like to know what it is to be in my family come and join me.

Family was a word that made me feel like a empty bag, drifty down the wind, not having a clue where it's going next. It was a word I heard a lot, my family this and my family that. People I was surrounded with had a family to be with but I didn't have no family here to even spend time with. Sometimes when I heard people talk about their family, I would day dream and imagine how my family was like, what they liked to do, what did they do and go for family reunions, how many people I had in my family, were there some in my family, characteristics I shared with them or were there others that were totally different from me. I would think what was my mom and dad's side like, what was different, and how did they come together to call us a family, what was the history in the Kanidy and Elbare family that brought us together as one. All these questions I had in my head left me wondering out alone for years. Whenever people asked about my family, I would just want to blast off, miles away to my destination, right quick, and meet them and land back to the conversion and tell them about my family.

There are things more important than money in life. As the days pass by, someone dies or is born. There are some who live their lives with nowhere to call home.Dreaming of having a place to sleep and eat and be comfortable at. There are some who live their lives, knowing that the next day they won’t be able to wake up. Hoping that they get to stay alive another day to feel the warmth of the sunshine on their face, to smell the freshly made breakfast, and to be healthy again. And there are those who live their lives with no family, dying to know how it feels to be embraced by your parents. Some people never experienced having a family. Some people, including kids were never able to stay healthy. And some people never experienced what a roof on top of their heads would be like. I am thankful to have a home where I feel secure. I am thankful to be in a healthy condition. I am thankful to have a family.

Sitting in jail after getting myself in trouble with a few friends doing things we should not have done. Balling my eyes out thinking of all the things that are going to ripple from this one mistake, I start to think of how this would affect my life and family. Overall, not really knowing what to do.

“Hello, do you want to be my friend?” Wow, what a childish thing to say. Nevertheless, it was from my mouth in which these words came out of. I remember constantly saying this exact line to almost everyone I know, and the response I got was always something similar to a smile and “of course”, what happens after this is playing for hours on end and departing when our parents dragged us home. That was how I lived my childhood, making new friends wherever I go and ending everyone with separation due to our parents. During those times, I would be so annoyed with my mom, dragging me home every time we started to have fun. I now realize it was because we were a mess, covered in dirt and due to the fun we were having we didn’t even realize it was raining. But when I had realized this care that my parents had for me it was too late, my parents had divorced and I was left with my dad.

“Families are the compass that guides us. They are the inspiration to reach great heights, and our comfort when we occasionally falter”(Henry). My family has several different aspects that make us a “family”. Many times I have thought to myself that Family isn’t important, although I think about it a little harder and my mind completely changes. The overall theme of a family is different for every single person. Morals are just another example of how different families are. My family has shaped me into the person I am today. The impact on my family is a lasting aspect. Many people believe family is only blood and I can’t disagree with that statement more. Many different factors go into describing Family, and the theme, morals, and lasting impacts describe my family.

Heavy traffic, busy work day, approaching deadlines, hot summer heat, and loss of sleep due to relationship troubles describes my hell week in summer 2015. It was just one of those weeks where everything that could go wrong, did. I was running around fanatically all week to keep my head above the water.

My family mean the most to me. My family is everything to me, they have helped me get to where I am today and they will continue to help me grow and thrive. My family is not the average one mother one father one girl and one boy. My family has one dad, one mom, 4 girls and 2 boys. Plus a little dog that goes by the name Jingles. My family is not like other families, we have a 7 seater car and when all of us want to go we squeeze in. My family is really close too. I usually have people ask me if I get along with my siblings and I say Yes! Honestly the other day all 6 of us kids we sitting in the living room and my sister was tapping on her cup of juice with her ring and we all started to head bang, and just little dance moves in our seats on the couch. I don’t understand how most families don’t get along, yes, my family has fights and we get mad but at the end of the day these people will always love you and will always help you.