Family

Family - a concept that until last year was honestly foreign to me. People grow up seeing their grandparents, aunts, uncles, and cousins etc all the time. I guess I never really had that. I had pseudo families and I had my mother, but that was never really the same. I guess what brought me to this thought is the fact that I just got back from Iran a few days ago, where I spent time with my family. It's funny cause like most large families, they are so many fights going on and so many problems. I feel like a complete outsider to all of it, so the whole thing generally just makes me laugh. I know what makes me happy makes everyone else frustrated- It sounds a bit weird. But, I guess even through all the frustration and problems, none of them realize how lucky they are to even be having these issues. Last Thursday night, I was laying in my room frustrated that I hadn't had one ounce of privacy where I could think to myself for 2 seconds being in a relatively small apartment with 7 other people. Then, I just started smiling because I realized that I had never experienced this problem before. My aunt was telling me that the thing with family is that you can't choose who they are like you can choose your friends, but I don't completely see the problem with that. My aunt and I sometimes just sit down and laugh about all the quirky things we have in common. We both do this thing where we shake one of our feet before we fall asleep and when we wake up. I guess we both got it from my grandfather who used to do that all the time. I could never have had that conversation with anyone else. We spend all our time trying to find friends who understand us, who have been through the same things as us, and I guess I've realized that the easiest place to look for that is from our own families. Basically, all I'm trying to say is that I've realized how amazing it is to have a family. =)