My Love Of My Family

Curiosity, undoubtedly, is one of the universal characteristics of a child. The innate desire to explore and understand comes just as naturally as eating and sleeping. For example, I was eager to discover how my mother was able to play such enchanting melodies on the piano. While she methodically pressed each key, I observed as the corresponding hammer struck a set of strings to produce a pleasant sound. My curiosity and the love of music sparked my desire to learn the piano; thus, leading me to learn and ceaselessly play for the past 12 years.

Over the first half of the trimester, I have clocked in thirty hours volunteering at Grace Church. At Grace Church, their mission statement is “We make disciples of Jesus and launch them into the mission of God”. This statement runs true because it is our job as volunteers to help the kids to find the path of God, and to make the experience an enjoyable one. Depending on the weekend, I either worked as an Outloud worship group leader or worked in technical production. Generally, I work with either my own group of Outloud kids or another groups’ if I was working in the technical booth. I also work with an array of adults and directors who manage the youth ministries throughout the service. During my weekends as an Outloud leader, I work with

As a young child, I had a very vivid imagination and a profound love for the ocean. Having lived in Virginia for so many years, my grandmother had a vast collection of shells, sea dollars, and other trinkets from the ocean. My mom worked at the time, so I would be taken over to my grandparents’ house every day, where my grandma would watch me. She would lay out blankets and towels and let me play with her collection of shells and sand. She also fed to my imagination and allowed me to create art that would soon end up on their fridge to admire. My grandparents’ house, somewhat small, had only a little yard attached to it, but I could always make the best memories there. My grandpa had built a wooden swing in their backyard, and I absolutely loved it. My grandma would take me outside, and we would sit, swing, and sing. Since then, I have been extremely close to my grandmother, therefore she could be considered one of my closest allies.

I was born and grew up in Ethiopia, moving to America three years ago. Ethiopia is one of the traditional country where most of the population and the economy rely on agriculture. I was born in small rural town called Akaki in the southern part of Addis Ababa City. My family depends on agriculture, my parents grow crops like teff, barley, hard wheat and sorghum, which is the common ingredients for our day to day meal. The production of these crops takes place in traditional farming. I am the youngest kid in my family, that means I am free from any responsibilities in my culture my older siblings do most of the things in our family. I spent most of the time playing with my friends. Everyone in my family loves me. If something happens with in our family, the oldest one are accountable and responsible, even I am a young and grown guy, this thing makes me lazy and spoiled person.

Love and friendships- My first friendship was one i am still been with for almost 15 years and growing up with him is like having a brother in another family. We would always go and listen to music and fool around, my first time coming into the U.S i already had someone to be around. When his oldest brother died i was still brand new here. It was still very tragic and even though me and him didn't know his brother as much it was difficult to believe it happened. The thing i most admire about friendship is that if you are that much close like brothers you can tell each other almost any deep dark secrets, being close to someone who is almost similar as you is the best thing about being in a friendship. It always helps being friends with someone you can trust.

“In my head, I’m just me, and yet when I go out into the world, people don’t see certain things about me.” (Sanna, page 29, paragraph 8) I’m the type of person who see things differently in the world as I construct my own opinions. As cheesy as it may sound, I like to believe that everything has a reason behind it; and that everyone has a purpose in life. Growing up, I never explored much of the world, but I felt that I didn’t needed to. From my parents' wise words to things I witness on television, I imagined what the world was. The only thing I truly knew was that I was surrounded by the love of my family and our furry companions. My childhood is something that shaped me into the person I am today.

When I was a little girl I loved to write, because my father would give me silly little writing prompts and I would write short paragraphs of made up scenarios. My father really encouraged my writing at an early age, but as I grew older I realized that I struggled with it a lot. I can remember my very first personal journal. The content I would write was so underdeveloped, because I was so young, but I didn’t care at the time. As I grew older, I became fond of roleplaying online on websites or in video games such as World of Warcraft. I continued to roleplay through high school at the same time trying to do the school work my teachers were giving me. My teachers knew I was struggling and didn’t take much interest in helping me. When I first started college, my skills were not up to par. Some things were good and others not so much, but at the end of the day everything that has happened to me has made me the writer I am today.

Felsenfeld did not come from a musical background, but took piano classes, worked at bars and orchestras and fell in love with music, especially Beethoven which had a “drug like effect on him” (p. 642) Felsenfeld only learned about Beethoven by accident when a friend “played something wild” for him (p. 641), but Felsenfeld wanted the music to keep going, to never end. Felsenfeld showed his love for music while composing in Opera, chamber music, and orchestral music. Felsenfeld followed his heart and passion and is an amazing writer/ composer.

Granddad I blame you, I blame you for everything that had happened to our family year. I blame you for all the heartbreak and the tears that my family had cried. You were supposed to be the “head” of our family but, no you let me down, you let every family member down. I have been holding in these feelings for years but you are getting older and so am I. I’m trying to forgive you. I want to forgive you, but first I need to explain to you what you did to me.

In my life, I have always tried to find things that make my life more joyful and peaceful, and there really are three things that I can think of to best illustrate my love for peace and joy. The first is the willow sapling that, to me, represents the joy of my childhood. The second is the guitar that I first learned to play on, that represents my love of music and the peace that I get from it. The third is the postcard I brought back from New Zealand that represents my love of travel and adventure and the joy that it brings me. These things are the most important to me because they remind me to always seek joy and peace in my life.

I have so much to be thankful for in this world but, I think my family is the most important. Till this day I don’t think I could have made it day by day without my family. I believe my love for my family is important because they trust each other, support each other, and are always there to help when needed. I believe these four virtues of family suggest why my family resonates as the most important because of support, love, builds on shared memories, and reinforces responsibility.

I would be the first out of my family to graduate college and I was the first to graduate high school out of 3 generations. My father was a Marine for 10 years, he choose a different path instead of going to college or finishing high school. He joined the war overseas to serve his country and I am proud of him. He always told me to never join any branch because he saw a future for me that he wanted me to invest in an education and better myself in everything I do. My brothers and sister choose horrible paths and yet I was different than the rest of the family. I wanted my mother and father proud of me and I wanted my country to be proud of me. Instead of doing drugs, drinking and partying. I was the odd kid growing up that invested myself into books and dreamed of the endless possibilities that I can became. I thought different jobs of what I can do to help my community and not fall into the evil path as my brothers and sister did. Dad always told me that I was his shining star, I didn’t really understand what was going on with family until I got out of high school. Drugs and alcohol can really screw up people lives. I am living proof that you can choose the right path to become a better citizen.

My whole family lived in Edison, New Jersey and I only saw my dad, brother, grandmother, grandfather, and my mother during my childhood. My mother was the person who had always helped me stay on the track to success. I called my mother Ma as a toddler because, I followed my brother in every way. Our culture was to call our mother Mama, but we could say Ma for short. My brother, Michael, called mother, Ma, and so I caught on. Ma was a hardworking, positive, and helpful parent. She wanted me to have a great future and has kept pushing me throughout the years of my life. The most important years Ma helped me through to become who I am was through the child years.

I was born in Mexico, and raised in a Christian environment, where some of my uncles and aunts are pastors, and most of my family members serve at church. I am the youngest of two brothers and a sister. My mom used to take us to church since I remember.

On January 17, 2016, my family and myself travelled about two hours to a small town called Yantis in east Texas. The elders of our family would always get together multiple times a year to catch up and see each other since they were getting to an age where they can’t depend on themselves being here on this Earth. Out of the seven or eight senior members of the family, two or three had already passed by this time. Our Uncle Charles was not looking good either, over the past few months he went from multiple doctor check-ups a week, to being in the hospital, and then ultimately hospice care.