My Personal Reflection Of My Family

Your life is changed every day and there are many points to your life. One point of my life is that family is the most important thing. Family is an important factor of everyone’s life, it’s who you are and who you have become today.

I possess a diverse background of experiences that I bring with me to the classroom. I lived in Wheaton, Maryland until the spring of third grade. I was immersed in diversity at school and in the community. Additionally, my family engaged in frequent weekend trips to Washington, D.C. We frequently visited the Smithsonian museums and the National Zoo. My family lived in a lower middle class neighborhood. At one time, a family that had defected from the Soviet Union lived next door. I had been exposed to a myriad of different cultures and ethnicities by the time I was eight years old. In general, I had been taught to value this diversity, although particularly my father held some stereotypes and prejudicial beliefs. In 1980, my family moved to rural Spotsylvania County Virginia. During this time, the area was predominantly White and African American. There was very little diversity and the majority my peers had never travelled outside the county and the neighboring city, Fredericksburg. My parents grew up in rural Ohio. My father was the son of a tenant farmer, and my mother’s father engaged in a variety of agricultural industries. My father served in the United States Navy during Vietnam and this experience led to upward mobility. When we moved to Spotsylvania, our family was considered middle class. While the majority of my public school experiences occurred in a relatively homogeneous environment, my experiences following public school were more diverse. The most diverse

My family is deemed to be what is referenced as a nuclear family. A father, mother, and their offspring biological and adopted living together under one household. My family was of low socioeconomic status and due to this position, we were raised in a low-income neighborhood. However, that did not affect how my mother and father reared their family. I am the third child in a family of five. My role in the family was that of a helper to my mother of household duties and a caretaker of my younger siblings. My parents did a wonderful job of nurturing my siblings and I by providing a faith based structure that gave each of us a solid foundation. My parents ingrained strong ethics, values and traditions in my

Ever since I was born into this world I knew that God placed me with the perfect family. My parents and my older brother mean the world to me. We were all so close and comfortable with one another and that’s how a true and understanding family is supposed to be. It was the summer of my sophomore year and I was so excited to be able to spend it with the people I loved most. As the summer went on I began to realize that my parents were hardly speaking to one another. My brother and I just assumed that they had gotten into a fight and they were just taking time apart. A few weeks on and they still weren't communicating with one another. At this point I realized that something was wrong. The family that I once loved and looked forward to seeing was growing apart. They never kissed, or hugged or even simply talked to one another. It was near the end of summer when my mom told me news that would change my life forever. She sat me down and told me that she was filing for an immediate divorce. I was so devastated and furious at both of them. I couldn't understand why they let their relationship get to this point. As weeks went on I noticed that my mom was always on the phone, and whenever I would ask who it was she would simply ignore me.I soon began to realize that the reason why my mom was becoming so distant is because she was having an affair. I felt like my world was turned upside but this was only the beginning of the struggle I've been facing with my parents.

“ HELP!HELP!SOMEBODY LIFT THE COUCH!”,my mom screeched for the umpteenth time today. “Why do I even bother trying to relax?”, I ask myself as I dragged my feet into the living room to see what all the commotion was about. As I turned the corner I immediately burst into laughter. My whole family looks at me like I’m crazy. Then I started getting aches in my chest. This moment reminded me of something that happened almost everyday in this house.

My family migrated from Buffalo, New York to Dearborn, Michigan in 1993, one year before I was born. My father’s family lives in upstate New York, we visit often. My grandmother passed away before I was born, so I never got the chance to meet her. When we usually visit we would go see my grandfather, Kassem. We called Kassem gido, which is grandfather in Arabic. My father and I would stay at gido’s house when we would go to New York. We would stay the weekends during the school year, and about five days during the summer months.

“Be kind, for everyone you meet is fighting a battle you know nothing about.” You never really know what is going on in someone's life, no matter how it looks from the outside. Some battle’s people face may be more more traumatic than others, but nonetheless difficult. My family is picture perfect, big house, fancy cars, expensive clothes, all of the friends and parties. My mom had my eldest brother at the age of 16. Her and my father both dropped out of high school to financially support this new found family on their own. The day my brother was born, my mom found a note in my father’s pocket, declaring his love for another girl. That is when the years of cheating and family destruction began.

I enjoyed this assignment to the fullest, at times it was challenging but as time went on and I was progressing in my paper everything became easier. I was never the type of person to have bottomless conversations with my family members but after this assessment it came clear to me that I should do it more often. Although, I did not get the whole physical aspect of the assignment because I did my interviews over the phone, I still caught on to their different tones. While, discussing the past experiences with each individual I caught on to a similar pattern, it would begin with an unsure and moderate tone as if they are not sure what to say, but, as the conversation went deeper they would become more sure and more relaxed and overall fluent when we talked and from there they would just babble and go into depth on their experiences. I enjoyed listening to their stories as they reminisced of their child hood or as Cynthia Burney Wadley put it “the good ol’ days.” Lastly, the information I have learned from my family experiences really shined light into my eyes. Personally, I assumed I knew I enough about the past that I wouldn’t learn much, not only was I completely wrong, it was an inspiring assignment to continue asking and looking into my family history and background.

How I would describe the primary needs for the Harris family situation and the needs I feel are most urgent. The primary need (s) for the Harris family would be prayer and communication, of the most urgent is communication. There reactions with a why Mr. Harris is auctioning on an emotion that Mrs. Harris has no understanding, her son is being effected but without knowing why.

As an adoptive child, there has always been a little part of me that felt missing or incomplete. It was not that my family did not feel or act like family, there just seemed to be a deep-down connection or piece of the puzzle that was absent. This absence established a newly found interested in history and genealogy. I wanted to know where my biological ancestors originated and the historical events they experienced. I faced an engrained desire to obtain my biological connections which so many of my friends and family members felt with their relatives. My initial focus when understanding my family was based on biology, which, as we have studied, was not the only relationship deemed meaningful. Now, after doing DNA tests and discovering my ancestral heritage, I am able to appreciate the need to identify both biological connections and kinship connections.

”No one is ever born into Life alone. Everyone has shared the bond of family, at least at birth, and for many people it is a bond that will follow them throughout life. For many people it is the most important bond of all.”

The word community maintains an assortment of meanings for each of us. These meanings are composed from various life experiences within our communities. To me, my communities include my family, friends, schools, work, and the town I live in. My communities have had an influence on who I have become as a person and continue to influence me on a daily basis.

This year I aim to focus on getting remarkable grades and staying focused in school no matter how boring and long it is. I plan to do better in school than I did in 2017. Just some things I have to stay on top of is studying and doing well on my homework no matter how long it takes. When I take tests I have to be careful and pick the best possible answer, again that's where the studying should pay off. If I am able to do everything I said then I should be sure to achieve my New Year’s goal! This resolution will make me more focused and be ready for tests and homework that my teachers throw at me. If I make this change now then I will not have to worry about it in the future and I will be more on track and in good shape.

The photo that I have chosen to reflect on depicts me sitting on a large green chair with my brother. I was anywhere from five to eight, and he was around eleven or thirteen. He is looking out of frame and has one of those old CD players from the nineties in his lap, his hands hovering over its silver hardware, frozen in a hesitant stance. He looks entertained, or maybe just distracted. He has what my family calls his “Harry Potter” glasses perched somewhat low on his nose, and true to the late nineties and early 2000s’ common style, his black hair is spiked up. Beside him is me, in a light shirt, wearing the thin headphones that accompanied the CD player in his lap. I look either deep in thought and like I am taking in the music very thoroughly or very uncomfortable. I will let you in on a hint: I was very uncomfortable.

For this project I spoke with three people who I think have really defined my life thus far. These people are my dad, my dad’s mom Maw-Maw, and my mom’s mom Nonnie.