Music played an important role in my family. On Saturday mornings we would turn on the radio and clean the house. We would put on shows for my mom like we were the Jackson Five! Times like those really made our family close and very open with one another. When there was nothing to do we would sit around and watch TV together. I remember when I watched that video of car crashes in class; I later went home to show my family because I knew it would evoke the same emotions for them as it did for me. My family is more than just family, they are like good friends and I love to share with them the new or interesting things I come across.
We were always a kind of loud and crazy family that was just everywhere. My mom taught us kids to be outspoken and to say what is on our minds. She was very open with us and would answer all our questions about life. My relationship with my mom is like the relationship between Marjane Satrapi and her mother in “Persepolis II.” Her mother talks with her openly and allows her to be who she wants to be. My mother has always let me make my own decisions and become the person I want to be. My mother is a very big hearted woman not only when it came to us kids but to everyone. Her kind traits have rubbed off on me and have made me part of who I am today. It might not always be a good trait at times but I cannot help but trust people and give them the benefit of the doubt when I first meet them. My siblings and I were raised to be trustworthy people and to keep our word when we say we will do something. As young kids we were always welcoming to friends or our parent’s friends just as our mother was always welcoming to any of our friends or people we met. My mother would always let people come over for dinner even though we did not have much food. My mother’s giving heart taught me how to give and love others. If I could describe my family in one word it would be “Love” and that’s all we needed along with each other.
My family did not grow up with a lot of material things so when it came to Christmas there would not be many presents under the Christmas tree and some years there was not any. Even though our Christmas was not the way TV advertisements, shows, or movies had depicted Christmas as, I loved our kind of Christmas. We would play games all day, have good conversations and eat yummy Christmas dinner. Life’s lessons have taught me that there’s nothing like family and I would not trade them for anything in the world. I hope someday when I have a family that we will share the same bond that my family shares.
