Most Sundays, I go up to my parents house in Alpine, UT for dinner with my family. Alpine is not home to me; I grew up in New York and my family just recently moved to Alpine when I was a senior in high school. I go up to Alpine about once a week to spend time with my family. I have 5 younger siblings: Connor (17), Caden (14), Maddie (10), Carson (8), and Camden (7), and I love them all VERY much. This is last Sunday, I stuck around longer than I usually did after dinner, to specifically spend time with my siblings. We were planning on watching a movie together and of course a fight broke out over what movie to watch.
I decided I would leave it to them and went into the kitchen to make us some pop corn. When I returned to the media room to watch the movie they had picked out, there was sense of calm in the room that was somewhat unusual for my family. For just a second, I looked around and stared as I witnessed the peace that had suddenly fallen over all of them. In our media room there are three couches and a luv sac. However, they had all chosen to sit together, squeezed tight as can be, on the one couch facing the TV. My sister sat in Connor’s lap as he scratched her back. My baby brothers, right next to them, were both holding hands between the two and sucking their thumbs with the other hand, and Caden, who had seen me walk in, was attempting to make room for me on the same couch. Looking at that picture, the 5 of them on that couch, in that moment, made me so content and grateful.
The joy that comes from having seen that image of them stems from a lot of difficulties our family has had in the past. My siblings have been through the ringer, having been forced to move away from NY and dragged into my parents’ separation. The trials that we have all faced had been somewhat of a detriment to the relationships we had shared with one another until just recently. The gratitude I feel having witnessed such a tender moment comes from what used to be a fear we would never recover from the long haul we had pulled through. I had been wrong, and for that I could not be more appreciative. The image of them all peacefully sitting there was proof there had been a change among us. I remember that moment because I feel as though it represents what my siblings and I have accomplished and have yet to accomplish together. Despite what we may have been like in the past, we are there for each other now and always will be. Seeing them like that gives me a sense of hope and fills my heart with love. It reminds me of the strength that the 6 of us have in helping each other in overcoming mutual and individual obstacles. Though it may seem simple to most, that image will stick with me forever because of its significance in all of our lives.
That is a great picture. It's not even my family and it made me smile! But I am extremely sorry about your parents and what you and your siblings had to go through and probably still are but I am glad that you were able to open up to us on here.
ReplyDeleteYour family is adorable! I can really see just by the picture the love that y'all share for each other. We all are going to go through adversities whether it is between our family or individually but through these struggles is how we become closer and learn how to rely on each other. We come out stronger than we did prior to our problems!
ReplyDeleteMcKaylee you're awesome for sharing that with us. I hope everyone in our class gets a chance to read this post. I think it's wonderful that you can recognize those moments in your life and use them to maintain a broad perspective on life. I think that's something that we can all be a little bit better at, or in my case, a lot better at. I hope everything is well with your family situation, they're lucky to have a daughter/sister like you though!
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