Right now, as I begin to write to you all, I am surrounded by my family. On a normal Sunday morning I’m usually sprawled out underneath my warm blankets, trying to hide from the early sunlight that’s creeping into my room. But, today is a special day; instead I crawled my way out of bed and attempted to make myself somewhat presentable for my family. Why go through all of this work? The answer: Sunday dinner.

Sunday dinners with my family are probably my favorite occasions of the year. Always a guaranteed home cooked meal and a chance to see the whole family together. The smell of fresh dinner rolls and the warmth coming from the kitchen always takes me back to those cool, fall days when all the cousins would huddle around the couch and listen to my grandparents tell us far-fetched tales from their past adventures. We would stay together for hours, one moment yelling at the top of our lungs, the next rolling on the floor with laughter. Moments so full of life and love that they can hardly be described through this keyboard.

It’s hard for me to imagine now, but there was a time when I didn’t appreciate those moments for how beautiful they really were. It was a time when I dragged my feet at the mention of family, a time when my mother had to practically bribe me just to get me out my room to visit my grandparents. A time when I was more selfish than Scrooge himself and I didn’t see the slightest problem with it. It’s embarrassing, really.

Starting my last year of college, I’m beginning to look back on my past four years; look at what I have to show for it, who I have to show for it. Plenty of people have walked in and out of my life. Friends have become everyday strangers and strangers have become my closest friends. All of this happened and there was one unwavering rock in my life: my family. They stayed just as they were. The same beautiful cluster of random, sometimes zany family members who I know will be with me through all the journeys in my life. Over the course of these four years I realize now that family is what is more important in the end.

There are times when we may name-call, poke and prod, bicker until no end, argue over the most trivial topics, and we may push each other to the very border of our limits and sometimes beyond; even still I would take a million of those days if it meant being with my family.

Some people are born into their families, some people become honorary family, and there are some people who get to build their families completely from scratch, because family isn’t always blood. But it doesn’t matter where you find yours. What does matter is that when you find them, when you realize these special people are right in front of you, never let them go.