Tag Archives: communication

“Don’t be a stranger, it’s that simple.”

15th September 2014

twopiece2

One of the most important relationships to me is the one I have with my younger and only brother. Of course, I have always loved him, loved picking on him, and loved wearing his clothes to school when we were little and I was a major tomboy, but we did not become close until I moved away for college.

This will remain one of my most cherished days because not only had I been waiting for this day since I started high school, but I felt a sense of independence as I packed each and every box and lined them up in front of my door. I packed the essentials; shower caddy, the complete series of Dawson’s Creek on DVD, my Joe Jonas poster and pictures of my loved ones. We packed our Hummer and headed straight to Muncie where I was about to begin my new chapter. Once we arrived and unpacked everything in my dorm, we realized that we had forgotten a few major things. This was my family’s first experience with college so we made a last minute trip to Walmart to pick up the final few things. I jumped out of my car and looked around and didn’t see my brother. I asked my grandparents where he was and they told me he wasn’t getting out of the car because he was really upset. Confused, I opened their back door to their Impala and he was a crying, emotional mess.

“Please don’t stay here,” he said as tears streamed down his face.

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All in the Family

20th July 2014

rooftop

We can make choices and decisions every single day. One thing, we are never able to choose is the family we come from. Today, I was able to spend a decent amount of time with family that I really don’t see too often. Some of them live here in Indiana, just a few miles away from me, others traveled from West Virginia to visit Indiana for a few days. I really find it humorous how versatile people from the same family can be, but at the same time, so happy to know that I am related to such unique people, who I hope think the same thing when they look at me.

I started today with a family photo shoot for my cousins. We had so much fun, especially with all the children (all under 4-years-old). To my surprise, they all cooperated despite the beaming heat. The best part about the photo shoot was how everyone worked together when it was only the children being photographed. This took an unbelievable amount of communication from everyone. In the beginning, because we are family and comfortable with each other, it was mostly a lot of screaming from everyone, and that didn’t work to anyone’s benefit. We took a moment, calmed everyones’ voices and right away, things went way smoother, even after being surprised by two large breed dogs that weren’t on leashes. At the end of the shoot, we were all laughing about everything that had happened that afternoon from being chased out of the woods by two dogs and slipping off the pier and almost crashing into the lake. Sure, you could laugh with total strangers about these events, but it was so much better with family.

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