While sitting back and relaxing with my younger brother one beautiful Sunday afternoon in the park, I couldn't help but think about how precious life is and how incredibly sentimental each moment should be. I'm constantly reminding myself these days that it is so important for me to cherish my family and the time I get to spend with them. Sadly, there are few people who will truly care for you the same way your own flesh and blood will. Guess that's what they say you need family for…
While we have our moments, my family and I do a pretty good job of maintaining a close-knit bond that I'm forever grateful for. What a blessing it is to have best friends and family members in one.
Your family should be your biggest support system, your #1 fans, your loudest cheerleaders. Your family should ease your mind, reason with you, keep you on the right track, push you to be better, encourage you at your worst, and tell you what you need to hear.
Your family should love you for YOU, make time and sacrifices for you, comfort you, laugh with you, joke with you, dance with you, sing wit you…the list goes on and on. Your family should be your safe haven, your place of peace, your happy place. They should be the ones you turn to after a long day at work, a rough week, a crisis.
Far too often, we seem to completely disregard the importance and presence of our families in our daily lives, and many of us don't realize this until it's too late. It's so easy to neglect the ones that seem to be there for you no matter what. It's so easy to forget about the ones that never leave your side when you've never had to live without them. It's so easy to take the most priceless relationships for granted, but it's these relationships that you need to hold closest to your heart.
Even if it's dysfunctional, crazy, strange, annoying, weird, unique, or bizarre, love your family. Love your small family. Love your huge family. Love your family at its times of trouble. Love your family during its times of success. Love your family under pressure. Love your family through the smooth times. Love your family the way Kanye loves Kanye.
Talk to your family. Enjoy their company. Enjoy their irreplaceable presence. Enjoy their voices. Enjoy their fragrances. Enjoy their stories. Enjoy the many ways they make you feel. Appreciate your family even when you find yourself wishing you weren't apart of it. Appreciate your family on your good days, on your best days, on your bad days, and on your worst days.
I'm thankful for the few months that I have with my family before it's time for me to return to my crazy, chaotic life as a college student. They certainly get on my nerves, but I know my family will never leave me or let me down.
You may or may not know it yet, but it's the simple things that will make you realize how incredibly complex your love for your family is. It's the Saturday morning chores, family game nights, summer festivals, barbecues, and Sunday dinners that will make you sit back and think about how truly blessed you are to have your family. It's the hot days at the park, long car rides to school, and the weekend activities that will show you how amazingly grateful you should be. It's the late night talks with siblings and casual chats with parents that will make you realize that life isn't all that bad after all. It's the times when you simply need each other that will allow you to understand that family is what matters most.
What I'm learning as life gets crazier and time goes on? I need to keep the family close.
Much closer.
