Family

Family

Have you ever felt jealous of distant family members? Has it ever seemed like everyone was doing better off financially than you and your family. That’s always been the case with me I remember like it was yesterday. We always went to my grandmas for the major holidays. My mother was a teacher’s assistant and since I was a student in the same system we had the same schedule. It was never a question where we went for break. Once school was let we hit the road. It was a ten hour drive, so I slept most if not all the way. I always wondered why we couldn’t fly like others. Why did we have to drive? My mother was like flying cost too much. I was like well after the time, energy, and gas money spent I thought they were about even. We always got in at night time. Nobody would be up except my grandparents. They always waited for us to arrive, no matter what time. We would hug and kiss and then head to bed ourselves.

The next day we would begin preparing for the dinner. This was a big deal because my grandma was a pro in the kitchen. It was a two day process. The main dish was my grandma’s famous monkey bread. She had this apple butter jelly she made from scratch. It was the best. You could eat it by yourself and be completely satisfied. My grandmother was a much laid back person she never rushed herself, but somehow things always got done. My mother was by no means the oldest, but she always acted like it. She did everything. To me it seemed like when we came in town everyone else would go on vacation as far as taking care of my grandparents. My break was spent taking grandpa to every funeral in town; this included many people he didn’t even know. My mother spent her time cleaning the house, running errands and anything else you could imagine. I remember one summer she repainted the kitchen. It was one of those older houses with wood paneling. It was beautiful and everyone liked it once she was done. In my mind I was like why didn’t one of my uncles or aunts have it done. Everyone was by any means better off financially than us. Anyone of them could have paid someone else to do it, but they didn’t. It made me furious to see my mother so exhausted when she was suppose to be on her break. This was always the case every time we came home.

My mother drove this Ford Festiva. It was a very small car. The family called it a clown car because they didn’t understand how we packed so much into it considering its size. Regardless my mother was happy. It got us to our destinations safely, and it had little mechanical problems. My aunts and uncles however drove Mercedes for the most part. They all lived in nice homes out in the suburbs. Even the majority of my cousins lived in the suburbs. It seemed everyone was doing fine. Why weren’t like everyone else? We attended church faithfully. We never asked for much of anything. So why did it seem like we were experiencing the “hard knock life”. It seemed like none of my prayers were getting answered. Was I not praying with a sincere enough heart? I could have sworn I was. I wanted the best for my family. Was that too much? Was God not listening? I don’t know because I’m told He’s always listening, but I couldn’t tell.

Finally, the day came. The big dinner was upon us. I was so ready to eat. I didn’t eat for like a day just because I wanted to have room to eat everything. Everyone was home. The house could have easily been mistaken for a luxury car lot. You had to be careful where you walked. You didn’t want to bump into this car or accidently rub some fresh wax on the paint of