Monday, February 12, 2007

What makes family?



ANDREW WRITES:

As you all know, Grace, AJ and Gracie are my closest friends and companions, but there are still two other very important people in my life, mom and dad (a.k.a. Grandma and Grandpa).

I noted in a prior blog that I was a very "special" child. Well, in the end that made for a very "special" relationship between my parents and I. Being the youngest I was a bit of a brat (sometimes a bit more of a brat depending on the age) and when I got older I just tried to get away and do my own stuff. Despite everything, my parents just always loved me and supported me. When I was little they used to let me play in the puddles outside our house in Danville, CA in the late afternoons because I just LOVED water. In fact, one time I locked my parents in the backyard and tried to flood the house.

I always had so much curiosity. After we moved to New Jersey around the age of 9 our house got struck by lightning and lots of our appliances were destroyed, my dad let me take them all apart to see how they worked. That was the very beginning of the engineering road. My parents always supported me in my academic intersts, even though it meant sacrifice for them.

I remember my mom also used to take me to all my doctors and dental appointments. One time I knocked out three of my front permanant teeth playing baseball in a neighbor's backyard and my mom would take me to all the dental and orthodontic appointments to get me fixed up over the next couple of years.

In high school I became a rebellious teenager and fought against the parental authority in our home. Needless to say, that was stupid on my part, and it caused a lot of pain those years and the years following.

When I was in college living the typical college life my dad would make a special stop by Los Angeles during his business trips to visit me a couple times per year and take me to a nice dinner. For college students, thats aways a treat! And whenever I was home my mom would teach me how to cook my favorite dishes as well as her secret household cleaning tricks.

When I finally became a Christian at the age of 20 I looked back on my life and realized how much my parents loved me. Despite all the hurt and pain I brought my parents, they just loved me and wanted whats best for me.

The reason I'm writing this blog is because my parents called yesterday and told me they were coming a day earlier because there is a snow storm coming in to New Jersey on Wednesday morning and they wanted to make sure they could get there at least a day before my surgery. That made me really happy. I'm also excited to see my brother when he visits the week after surgery.

The way my parents love me unconditionally is the way I hope to be able to love my kids. Thats what families are made of.

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