This I Believe

Overall Belief Statement:

• I believe that having a close relationship with your family is important.

Essay:

The Closer, the Better

            I believe that having a positive and close knit relationship with your family is very important.  You can learn and grow from the things that your family members have to offer. Your family are not just annoying parents that nag you, and they are not just that little sister that will not stop following you everywhere. Your family plays the role of being your backbone more than any friend will ever be. When no one else has your back best believe your family will.

Nevertheless, I did not always think this way. I am the oldest out of soon to be six children. Therefore, in my high school years, I found myself being highly annoyed with my family and never wanting to be home. Most of all, I disliked babysitting so I did everything possible to make sure I made myself unavailable. As a result, my relationship with my twelve year old sister gradually became distant; and my parents and I began to disagree a lot.

My decision to attend UNC-Charlotte was based off making sure I lived far enough away from the city of High Point that my parents would not ask me to baby sit. Ironically, once I began my freshman year of high school, most of my so called friends began to change.  I guess you can say we grew apart. All I had left was a handful of friends and only one attended UNC-Charlotte with me. Then to make matters worse my roommates were extremely quiet. Coming from a big family that was always making noise, I was not used to it being so quiet. I began to realize that the noises I thought were annoying were actually comforting to me. I never in my life thought that I would feel this way. Slowly but surely I started to miss my family and become home sick.

Now I talk to my mother at least twice a day. I must admit she keeps me from over stressing school and she gives me the best advice. I also go home to visit my entire family about every two weeks if my schedule allows it. My visits back home consist of trips to the movies, long nights at celebration station (a huge arcade), eating at different restaurants, enjoying a girls’ day at the hair salon, helping with my dads’ football team, and many laughs. It is comforting to know that my family still loved me and welcomed me with open arms. Since I have started rebuilding my relationship with my family, I tend to be a lot happier and I feel complete mainly because I no longer have an attitude towards the people that I love.

You are never too old to have a close relationship with your family. Life is all about enjoying those special moments with your family who love you more than anything. They are the ones who read your first book to you before bedtime; your mother let you lick the spoon after mixing cake mix, and they even taught you how to say your first words. How could you ever forget about your family?

Reflection:

The This I Believe assignment helped me learn how to create multiple drafts for my papers instead of just writing it all the day before it is due. This will help me prepare my writing in the future. I also learned the important parts of a personal essay that make the essay personal and interesting to the reader such as, authentic voice (true experiences), narrative coherence (telling stories well), and communal relevance (why should the reader care?). The best thing about this assignment was doing peer responses in class and on moodle. Responses from my classmates made my writing process easier because I was given different ideas and able to get another persons’ point of view. It also helped me figure out what I needed to change in my essay to make it better. This was the first time that I actually experience getting great advice from my peers and being able to use it. No one really took it serious in my English class last year. I really think that this assignment helped me feel better about my writing because of some of the positive comments I received from my peers.