- Friday, February 10, 2012

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28 DAY WRITING CHALLENGE: Day 10

Write about your family

My Dad:
In maybe the 1st or 2nd grade, everybody in the class had to fill out a questionnaire about themselves. One question asked “Who are your heroes?” and after (miss-spelling) both Arnold Schwarzenegger and Jean-Claude Van Damme - I put my dad. And if I had to answer the same question today, I still would put him on it.

When I was a kid, if my dad told me that the sky was actually the colour purple but everyone just thought that it was blue - I honestly would have believed him. I thought that he was the greatest (I still do). When I was in high school, I started to believe my dad a little less only because I was starting to form my own opinions on things. When I was in college, I thought my dad was an idiot (I STILL LOVED HIM THOUGH). But now, after college - I fully understand that he’s just a guy while at the same time know that he is entirely committed to be both the best husband and father that he can physically, mentally, and emotionally ever be.

Could he have done certain things differently? Maybe. But I would never hold anything against him while he would never dwell on the bad things, and instead is already planning ahead towards all the good things that he is going to do for his family.

My dad is only in his mid-50s but has gone through so many things already (both good and bad): abandonment, poverty, relocation, segregation, discrimination, marriage (currently still on-going with my mother!), fatherhood (currently still on-going with me & my little brother!) and has had such a varied life, from Portugal to South Africa to Spain to Gibraltar to (now) Rhode Island. And as long as I can keep him away from drinking too much soda, he has a lot more to look forward to and many more years to come.

Some people remark that your father should never be “your best friend”. The only thing I can think of when I hear anyone say that is: “Clearly you’ve never met my dad.”

My Mom:
If I had to decide on a single word to best capture and describe my dear mother - it would be “unshakeable”. In her love for her husband and for her two children, in her determination to be both the best wife and mother that she can be (and is), in her decision to never have grey hair, and in her constant belief that “good things will happen to us, one day”.

Everyone says that their mother is the best in the world, and I don’t doubt that on their part - but I am infinitely certain that my mother was actually born to be a mother. She just possesses this aura around her where you feel like no matter what is wrong, or whatever problem you’re contesting with in your life, or how much chaos is currently surrounding you mentally and emotionally - everything is slowly going to be okay.

From where I stand, my mother has already been the greatest mother in the world, ever. My biggest wish is to (finally) meet the girl who I’m supposed to be with for the rest of my life and have kids with this wonderful, seemingly imaginary woman - so that my kids can have the greatest grandmother ever.

My little brother:
I’ve spoken about my little brother on Tumblr before in a different Tumblr Challenge. He has since read what I had written about our relationship and while he thinks of it as “my reality” of what has happened in our respective lives, he still loves me, I still love him dearly, and we always will.

He’s the Bret to my Jermaine, he’s the Troy to my Abed, he’s the Jean-Ralphio to my Tom Haverford (because my brother has some sweet hair)

He’s my little brother. And I simply cannot even imagine my life without him.