What my family means to me. I never really thought about that. Or should I say, I never really thought about that until a few years ago. About three years ago a few major events made me realize how much my family means to me.

Two days before I started 6th grade at Frick I.S.A, my brother left with A.F.S. to go to France for a year as a foreign exchange student. I had known this was coming for months on end, but I hadn’t wanted to think about it. But when it was time to bid him good travels I broke down and cried. I didn’t believe I could make it through the year not seeing him at all. He wasn’t even allowed home for Christmas. There lying on the couch sobbing my heart out, I realized how much I loved him. This got me thinking of other people’s families.

A little later that year, a foster child named Abbigale came to live with close friends of ours. When she arrived, she was awfully skinny, and couldn’t talk. It wasn’t that she couldn’t make noise to talk, it was the words she was missing. Now, I’m not saying her family didn’t care about her; they just couldn’t take care of her. Since she has lived with her new family I have watched her strive in athletic ability, gain weight up to the status quo, and become a complete blabbermouth. You should hear her telling her stories and laughing at funny ones. Because of having the experience of watching Abbi grow in every way, I see that having a loving family that cares about you, and can care for you is an essential part of everyone.

Although my last two examples of family have been people who were related, I believe that’s not all there is to it. I think that family is everyone who cares about you and wants to see you do well. I have two examples of this in my life. The first example is my swim team. Although we all have different backgrounds and grew up in different places, when we come together, we create the most amazing family. My second example is my neighbors Suzetta and Jimmy. I spend almost as much time over there as I do at home! They care for me like they do their own daughter.

Through these events, I learned what my family means to me. The answer is everything. Whether it’s family I’m related to or people that through their actions become family, they all mean just as much.