As you know my parents moved away about four months ago. This has been kind of a tough situation for me because of some regrets that I have now that I don’t get to see them as much. It has been since then that I realized how beautiful it is to see a family doing something all together. It would be impossible for me to describe just how beautiful it is only because you live with your family still, but I will try. Try to see from an outsider’s point of view. Imagine your family all crammed into the kitchen and your mom’s arms around your little sister. Picture your dad laying out cookies that you all just made together on a tray and your sister trying to eat the dough off of the cookie sheet. Hear the laughter coming from your family’s mouths as they talk about old times and fun memories. Smell the chocolate chips as they melt in the oven. Feel the hand gently set on your back with your father acknowledging that he is glad you’re there. Just picture these things and then you will truly understand beauty.
Monday, October 27, 2008
Blog three
Dear friend,
As you know my parents moved away about four months ago. This has been kind of a tough situation for me because of some regrets that I have now that I don’t get to see them as much. It has been since then that I realized how beautiful it is to see a family doing something all together. It would be impossible for me to describe just how beautiful it is only because you live with your family still, but I will try. Try to see from an outsider’s point of view. Imagine your family all crammed into the kitchen and your mom’s arms around your little sister. Picture your dad laying out cookies that you all just made together on a tray and your sister trying to eat the dough off of the cookie sheet. Hear the laughter coming from your family’s mouths as they talk about old times and fun memories. Smell the chocolate chips as they melt in the oven. Feel the hand gently set on your back with your father acknowledging that he is glad you’re there. Just picture these things and then you will truly understand beauty.
Everyone has their glory days. I look back at my life and there are a few times were I think I lived my glory days already. There were all those dance competitions that I went to, and the ones where my team beat every other studio there seemed like a glory day. Or the time when I got accepted into every college I applied to seem like they would be glory days as well. Maybe even the day I graduated high school was a glory day. After looking back to all these times where I felt like I was on top of the world, I think that my glory days are still to come. These times seemed like the best moments in my life but as I think about my future, I think my glory days are going to be much better. My glory days are going to start when I get married. Every girl dreams about the day she marries her one true love and her life as an “us” begins. I am not different from any other girl in where I have that same dream. I think that the day I buy a house with my husband will be a glory day and when I become a mother will be one of those days as well. I think that you are just living your life as best you can until you reach these days. I believe that once I reach this time is when I will experience my glory days.
With the holidays coming up a lot faster than I expected, I have started thinking a lot about how this year is going to turn out. Now normally my family and I don’t go visit all of our family in another state for Christmas, but this year, since my whole family moved to where all my relatives are, it looks like I will be the one to travel out there and we will finally have a Christmas with ALL my relatives. So because we have never actually been with all my relatives for the holidays, I don’t really know how it will turn out. Since I have seen family gatherings before, I can make a guess though. It will start out by all of us driving down to my Aunt Thelma’s house for a big dinner. This is ok by me because I have always gotten along with my Aunt. Aunt Thelma is pretty much a teenager trapped in a 50 year old ladies body. She has a very “hip” sense of style and I feel like I can talk to her about almost anything. She goes and gets her nails done once a month, and she has bleached blonde hair, like a California girl. Although I get along with her very well, my dad and her usually don’t. My dad and hir sister seem to have a lot of differences. My dad is a smoker, for one, and my aunt hates the thought of smoking. Where it turn into some conflict is when my aunt begins to be very open with how she feels about things that my dad does. My dad hates being told what to do, which is where I get it from I guess, and her fights with her a lot about it. The one person that they seem to agree on is my grandmother. My Grandma is 92 years old and seems to keep the peace without even knowing it. She hates when my dad and my aunt fight, so they try to put their differences aside for their mother. My grandma is very old so there will be a lot of stories that we will have to listen to, even if we have heard them a billion times before. I will probably end up being stuck hanging out with my 2nd cousin, who is at the riveting age of 13 now, and watching her act exactly like me the whole night. In all honesty I am looking forward to seeing all my family again, I just hope it doesn’t mess up the idea of Christmas that I have always kept close to me.
As you know my parents moved away about four months ago. This has been kind of a tough situation for me because of some regrets that I have now that I don’t get to see them as much. It has been since then that I realized how beautiful it is to see a family doing something all together. It would be impossible for me to describe just how beautiful it is only because you live with your family still, but I will try. Try to see from an outsider’s point of view. Imagine your family all crammed into the kitchen and your mom’s arms around your little sister. Picture your dad laying out cookies that you all just made together on a tray and your sister trying to eat the dough off of the cookie sheet. Hear the laughter coming from your family’s mouths as they talk about old times and fun memories. Smell the chocolate chips as they melt in the oven. Feel the hand gently set on your back with your father acknowledging that he is glad you’re there. Just picture these things and then you will truly understand beauty.
Monday, October 6, 2008
blog two
Dear Friend,
So I was looking over the first letter that I wrote to you and I realized that I never told you anything about my family. I wanted to describe each of them to you so that you would understand a little bit more about me and who I am. First off there is my dad. My dad is an older guy who doesn’t have hair on the top of his head. My dad is a very funny man, in a sarcastic way that is, and people say we are a lot like each other. I like to take this as a positive thing even though I know sometimes I can hurt people’s feelings with what I say, even if it is just a joke. That’s something I need to work on. My dad was a very outgoing and fast pace kid, just like I was and am now. He met my mom when he was 21 and wanted to marry her when they first met. My mother is a little different from my dad and I. She is a very short lady, even shorter than I am and she is pretty shy when she first meets you. Once she feels comfortable though, she really opens up and becomes a very fun person to be around. My mother and I are very close and I think I would consider her the easiest person in the world to talk to. Then there is my brother. He is older than I am and is a really serious guy. He says that he has a temper from when he used to get picked on as a kid, for wearing glasses and being a little overweight. Ha. Now you would never think he was the little overweight kid in the class because he probably weighs about the same that I do, which is scary. He is a very nice guy who really watches over his family. He can be pretty serious but he jokes around a lot as well. It’s hard for me to write about my family now because they all just recently moved out of state when I went to college. They live about 1000 miles away now and I really think about them a lot. I think about all the fights that I would get into with my dad, because we are both really sarcastic, and how my mom would always be the peace keeper of the family. I remember how my mom used to drive me crazy always asking me how every part of my life was going, everyday. I think about how I was so busy with my high school life that I didn’t take enough time to spend with any of my family. I remember how I was too busy to ride with my brother to the store, or at least to focused on other things. Now, when I get into a fight with my roommate, have a bad day, or just feel like crying I realize that I really do need my family. I thought that it would be no big deal living so far away but when I see other people going home for the weekend or going out to dinner with their sibling, I see that it is a big deal. I really do miss my family, as corny as that sounds, and I do need them. So I have advice for you now, don’t take for granted being around your family and don’t roll your eyes next time you have to go spend time with your “old folks”. Enjoy it, because they might not be around forever.
Enough about my family, of the lack there of, there is something else I wanted to share with you. I know that most people have that one best friend that they spend every moment with, or that person that just understands you better than anyone else. A lot of times this is your boy or girlfriend, which yes Josh is my best friend, but I talk about him way too much for even myself to listen to. The friend that really helped and influenced me was a girl named Sarah. I don’t know if I have ever told you anything about her but she really is the sweetest girl you would ever meet in your life. She has that mom like quality that always makes you feel secure and she listens to everything you say, and really listens. Sarah and I didn’t really hang out that much but when we did I knew that it was special. She and I could talk about anything and she seemed to have everything figured out in her life. When Sarah and I got closer I found out that my perfect picture of her wasn’t an actuality. Sarah was actually really depressed and very self conscious about a lot of different things. I hated hearing those things about her because Sarah was the perfect person with the perfect family to me. When I was with her I wanted to make myself better, more like her. When she told me these things about her real life I was shocked. Most would think that I would turn my perception around and start picking out a new role model, and I almost did. Sarah and I hung out still and I realized that I helped her as much as she helped me. She said that I made her happy and I made her not have to take those depressant pills anymore. It was an honor to hear how I could help someone just as much as she helped me. I learned something that I didn’t know before. True friendship isn’t about always being the same, or looking up to someone that is better at this or that. Sarah showed me what a true friendship was. One where neither of us were judged, but both of us helped to make the other stronger. Now that Sarah and I went to separate colleges I don’t see her much, but I’m sure she has found those other people that will keep her happy. A true friend is hard to come by, but when you find that person, he or she means the world to you.
Have you ever felt what it was like to feel infinite? Let me paint a picture for you of what I think it is and then maybe you will understand what I mean by it. It was in the early evening where it was just dark enough to where you could still see all the leaves blowing across the yard. I’m inside cooking with one person that truly understands me. I feel infinite when our favorite songs play through the ipod speakers and we layer the last part of the lasagna with all the extra cheese we have. Nothing can truly describe the anticipation while waiting for your dinner to cook that has to be perfect since your cooking with the whole family. The laughter that bursts throughout the kitchen when your best friend tosses a salad with a whole head of lettuce that turns out to be a whole head of cabbage, that you bought! I remember focusing so thoroughly on the garlic bread to make sure it doesn’t burn and pulling it out just in time all because you got distracted watching your boyfriend look like a fool dancing to “Living la Vida Loca”. Finally when you are all together eating the dish that the two of you created and seeing satisfied faces, nothing can make you feel more infinite. And that’s how I felt.
Dana
So I was looking over the first letter that I wrote to you and I realized that I never told you anything about my family. I wanted to describe each of them to you so that you would understand a little bit more about me and who I am. First off there is my dad. My dad is an older guy who doesn’t have hair on the top of his head. My dad is a very funny man, in a sarcastic way that is, and people say we are a lot like each other. I like to take this as a positive thing even though I know sometimes I can hurt people’s feelings with what I say, even if it is just a joke. That’s something I need to work on. My dad was a very outgoing and fast pace kid, just like I was and am now. He met my mom when he was 21 and wanted to marry her when they first met. My mother is a little different from my dad and I. She is a very short lady, even shorter than I am and she is pretty shy when she first meets you. Once she feels comfortable though, she really opens up and becomes a very fun person to be around. My mother and I are very close and I think I would consider her the easiest person in the world to talk to. Then there is my brother. He is older than I am and is a really serious guy. He says that he has a temper from when he used to get picked on as a kid, for wearing glasses and being a little overweight. Ha. Now you would never think he was the little overweight kid in the class because he probably weighs about the same that I do, which is scary. He is a very nice guy who really watches over his family. He can be pretty serious but he jokes around a lot as well. It’s hard for me to write about my family now because they all just recently moved out of state when I went to college. They live about 1000 miles away now and I really think about them a lot. I think about all the fights that I would get into with my dad, because we are both really sarcastic, and how my mom would always be the peace keeper of the family. I remember how my mom used to drive me crazy always asking me how every part of my life was going, everyday. I think about how I was so busy with my high school life that I didn’t take enough time to spend with any of my family. I remember how I was too busy to ride with my brother to the store, or at least to focused on other things. Now, when I get into a fight with my roommate, have a bad day, or just feel like crying I realize that I really do need my family. I thought that it would be no big deal living so far away but when I see other people going home for the weekend or going out to dinner with their sibling, I see that it is a big deal. I really do miss my family, as corny as that sounds, and I do need them. So I have advice for you now, don’t take for granted being around your family and don’t roll your eyes next time you have to go spend time with your “old folks”. Enjoy it, because they might not be around forever.
Enough about my family, of the lack there of, there is something else I wanted to share with you. I know that most people have that one best friend that they spend every moment with, or that person that just understands you better than anyone else. A lot of times this is your boy or girlfriend, which yes Josh is my best friend, but I talk about him way too much for even myself to listen to. The friend that really helped and influenced me was a girl named Sarah. I don’t know if I have ever told you anything about her but she really is the sweetest girl you would ever meet in your life. She has that mom like quality that always makes you feel secure and she listens to everything you say, and really listens. Sarah and I didn’t really hang out that much but when we did I knew that it was special. She and I could talk about anything and she seemed to have everything figured out in her life. When Sarah and I got closer I found out that my perfect picture of her wasn’t an actuality. Sarah was actually really depressed and very self conscious about a lot of different things. I hated hearing those things about her because Sarah was the perfect person with the perfect family to me. When I was with her I wanted to make myself better, more like her. When she told me these things about her real life I was shocked. Most would think that I would turn my perception around and start picking out a new role model, and I almost did. Sarah and I hung out still and I realized that I helped her as much as she helped me. She said that I made her happy and I made her not have to take those depressant pills anymore. It was an honor to hear how I could help someone just as much as she helped me. I learned something that I didn’t know before. True friendship isn’t about always being the same, or looking up to someone that is better at this or that. Sarah showed me what a true friendship was. One where neither of us were judged, but both of us helped to make the other stronger. Now that Sarah and I went to separate colleges I don’t see her much, but I’m sure she has found those other people that will keep her happy. A true friend is hard to come by, but when you find that person, he or she means the world to you.
Have you ever felt what it was like to feel infinite? Let me paint a picture for you of what I think it is and then maybe you will understand what I mean by it. It was in the early evening where it was just dark enough to where you could still see all the leaves blowing across the yard. I’m inside cooking with one person that truly understands me. I feel infinite when our favorite songs play through the ipod speakers and we layer the last part of the lasagna with all the extra cheese we have. Nothing can truly describe the anticipation while waiting for your dinner to cook that has to be perfect since your cooking with the whole family. The laughter that bursts throughout the kitchen when your best friend tosses a salad with a whole head of lettuce that turns out to be a whole head of cabbage, that you bought! I remember focusing so thoroughly on the garlic bread to make sure it doesn’t burn and pulling it out just in time all because you got distracted watching your boyfriend look like a fool dancing to “Living la Vida Loca”. Finally when you are all together eating the dish that the two of you created and seeing satisfied faces, nothing can make you feel more infinite. And that’s how I felt.
Dana
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