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If you looked at my family a few years ago you would have probably recognized a normal, dysfunctional family that like most American families were too involved in their own worlds to notice their family. Unlike most American families, we had the luxury of living in close proximity to each other, and yet we never took advantage of it. On average, we probably only saw each other 10 days out of the entire year, probably less. Yes, we celebrated birthdays and major holidays, but that's the most we did.
The only believable reason that could explain this behavior would be that we simply fell into a routine. Instead of seeing time spent together as a gift, we began to grudge it. It became more of a chore where you had to guess what so-and-so would want for his/her birthday, or schedule your work hours around it, which is quite the hassle, especially for family. Cue the eye roll. There was only one person really maintaining the tradition, and that was my grandmother. She was an amazing person that no amount of words could capture her essence. She valued the bond that only a family could share, and she was always pushing to see her children and grandchildren. She was a prime example of a grandmother you could only dream of. She did anything humanly possible to make us happy and we never truly appreciated like we should have.
Now that you've stood there long enough, taking in the view, you may have noticed a pattern of bad luck; a string of one tragic event after another, and to the passing observer it would seem we had really bad luck. My mom had always had problems with her mother, but after her father died of cancer their relationship crumbled. My grandfather on my father's side died of cancer as well. My aunt died around the same time, which was pretty hard on both sides of the family, but we pulled through like always. We have had several divorces and separations over the years adding to the stress. Over a year ago another one of my aunts suffered from a stroke, which took us all by surprise. My parents dropped what they were doing, and we all prayed for her recovery, and after it seemed like she was recovering she suffered from another stroke. My greatgrandmother died the following year and my grandmother who suffered from breast cancer a few years before was diagnosed with Leukemia, which she eventually died from in late November.
We've suffered through many tough situations, and sometimes it's hard to understand how we survived all of this and stuck together like we have. The reason is because we didn't dwell on the past and what we lost, but grew from it. When my aunt had her second stroke, we were shocked, but we knew she would improve, and she did because we were there for her. When grandmother was sick we spent a lot of time with her, and after she passed away we continued to spend time together as a family. Even though she died, my grandmother's wish for us to stay together. I still miss my grandmother, but because of all that has happened, I have learned the importance of family, even after I start college, I may not know what I want to major in or what job I'll look for, but I know one thing I will do and that is spend all the time with my family and friends while I'm at it, because one of the worse things that I could do is not appreciate what I have, because I could lose it at any moment. What's the difference between my family and every other family? My family is there for me when I need him.

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