We Are Family

So... being in a family is hard.

I recently had a pretty big fight with my parents that resulted in some tears, some hurt, and general unhappiness. It was most definitely not fun. What I've discovered is this:

Being in a family is incredibly hard. It requires compromise, leniency, love, compassion, understanding, self control, patience, and maturity. I have learned that I definitely need to work on a lot of these. Relationships with parents are stretched and grown throughout young adulthood. I'm trying to figure out how to grow up and my parents are trying to figure out how to let me and how to help me along in that process. And sometimes, none of us know what to do or what the right answer is. And that's okay. It's okay to not know all of the answers. It's also okay to mess up. Everyone does.

With the most recent argument I had with my parents, I really messed up. Like a royal screw up of global proportion. But here's the thing, it grew our relationship and reinforced the fact that I love my parents no matter what. I will never not love them. Sometimes we lose sight of unconditional love. The kind of love that doesn't go away after someone screws up (on whatever proportion). The kind of love that doesn't always agree but lets you make your own decisions anyway. The kind of love that puts you above pride and stubbornness. The wonderful part is that I was reminded that not only do I love my parents that much, but they love me in the same way, perhaps even more.

I think as we grow and mature, we learn new and different ways to love and our ability to love grows along with our bodies. We become more capable of love and more capable of showing it.

Moral of the story: families are hard but they are so important and so worth it. There is nothing in the world that can compare to knowing that people love you fully and completely, no matter what.

Stay classy,
Kel