by T, Sacramento
I enjoy being around all my family members – uncles, cousins, grandparents, and all. Even friends ‘cause they all help me when I’m down and boost my spirit up. Even in the situation I’m in right now.
They visit me, write me, send pictures, put money on the phone, and don’t let it run out. Without them, I feel like I would be empty on the inside. I’d have a nasty attitude every day.
But when I was younger, we used to spend every holiday together – Christmas, Thanksgiving, birthday parties, and all. Even trick or treating with my cousins and friends.
Everything really stopped coming together once my mother passed away. But we see each other on certain occasions. Like if my grandparents need help, my uncle will come around.
Or if there’s a barbecue, some family members would come around for a little bit. I even consider some of my friends as brothers, because their mom has taken me in when I didn’t have nowhere to go.
And I would do the same if they were in my predicament. So I see them all as family. I spent my seventeenth birthday with my friends, and it was fun because my family’s all over the place.
So I couldn’t spend it with them. But a lot of people came. There was a big bbq, bottles, etc. But one of the memories I would never forget was my thirteenth birthday. My mom was still with us.
Family came around all the time, no matter how far they lived. And my birthday was on Thanksgiving, so it was a lot of food, cakes, presents, cousins and uncles giving me money.
It was just a happy day. Everyone was taking pictures. I remember the best present I got that day was my PlayStation Four, and a couple fast race cars.
The small ones you can control. And they were expensive too. It’s kinda sad. Nobody comes around like that anymore, but it’s life.
People got stuff to do, jobs to work, kids to feed, rent to pay. And everyone’s older now, so I don’t really complain.