I've learned something Tonight.
This was written last night after returning from the "family get together."
In all of the South Park seriousness that I can muster on this late night, I have to say something; I’ve learned something tonight. I’ve had a bit of an epiphany about how different family structures can work. My family has always prided its self on being independent. When I was 18 my parents told me that they had raised me in the best way that they could, and even though I still lived under their roof and they supported me, I was now in charge of my life. They would be there if I wanted help or suggestions, but my decisions and actions were now my own. They have stayed true to what they said. They have always respected my decisions and the privacy of my life. They have also always been there for me with wise advice and total support when I asked for it. This has worked out well for the way that my family is structured and the way we live our lives. Members of my family move about every three years, if we were as interconnected to each other as Rosalinda’s family was, we would be unable to function if we had never been “kicked out of the nest”.
Being with/in Rosalinda’s family I realize that none of them have every had that moment that I had at 18. I don’t believe that any of them have every had a time in their lives where totally their own. The decisions that they make in life are made in relation to the other family members and the consequences of those decisions influence the entire family in return.
Personally, I have difficulty fully appreciating this kind of setup. The very foundations of independence and support that my family respects and needs goes against that all encompassing connectivity and influence that I’ve been experiencing here. However, I can see how it could work in a family unit where no ever, or rarely moved away from the city that they were born in. (The family seemed confused about the fact that the place we were currently living in the States was not the same place that we were born.) What I see as meddling and nosiness between family members is nothing more than my parents being concerned about my sister and I when we were thirteen years old. That concept of never truly leaving or braking away from your family to live a life independently on your own is something that I don’t believe that I have every truly understood until today. I told you I was the slow one.
In all of the South Park seriousness that I can muster on this late night, I have to say something; I’ve learned something tonight. I’ve had a bit of an epiphany about how different family structures can work. My family has always prided its self on being independent. When I was 18 my parents told me that they had raised me in the best way that they could, and even though I still lived under their roof and they supported me, I was now in charge of my life. They would be there if I wanted help or suggestions, but my decisions and actions were now my own. They have stayed true to what they said. They have always respected my decisions and the privacy of my life. They have also always been there for me with wise advice and total support when I asked for it. This has worked out well for the way that my family is structured and the way we live our lives. Members of my family move about every three years, if we were as interconnected to each other as Rosalinda’s family was, we would be unable to function if we had never been “kicked out of the nest”.
Being with/in Rosalinda’s family I realize that none of them have every had that moment that I had at 18. I don’t believe that any of them have every had a time in their lives where totally their own. The decisions that they make in life are made in relation to the other family members and the consequences of those decisions influence the entire family in return.
Personally, I have difficulty fully appreciating this kind of setup. The very foundations of independence and support that my family respects and needs goes against that all encompassing connectivity and influence that I’ve been experiencing here. However, I can see how it could work in a family unit where no ever, or rarely moved away from the city that they were born in. (The family seemed confused about the fact that the place we were currently living in the States was not the same place that we were born.) What I see as meddling and nosiness between family members is nothing more than my parents being concerned about my sister and I when we were thirteen years old. That concept of never truly leaving or braking away from your family to live a life independently on your own is something that I don’t believe that I have every truly understood until today. I told you I was the slow one.
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