It’s the way they make me feel. And the love, oooh the love. Like carbs, but less fattening.
My family is why I am the person I am today. They make me whole, they make me smile, they make me happy. There are three special members of my family who are titled “immediate”. They will be my “Thursday 3” today.
MOM
My mom is the most loving, compassionate, selfless person I know. She is the go-to person for everyone in the family when they need something, or to just vent their emotions. She is there to listen, to give advice, and to just make you feel much better. My mom is an inspiration to me because she has been through so much in her lifetime yet is stronger because of it. She taught me how to appreciate, how to embrace, and how to be frugal. She is the reason I am always aware of what I am buying and why I need it. I rarely go shopping unless I absolutely need something, and I am conscious of when I am shopping to not be “tricked” into getting anything I won’t need after I have it at home. I admit it, I really don’t like shopping all that much. But there are times when I LOVE to shop – I have to be in the right mood. This includes shopping for anything – be it clothes, groceries, etc. And while we are on the grocery store topic, my mom has always been a PRO at getting only what is needed. And when there are certain little treats around the house, Mom always finds a hiding spot for them. Hershey bars in the highest cabinet above the microwave, individual diet coke cans spread about the house, taffies hidden above the television where Dad won’t be able to find them… but he always does. I love my mom for being such a caring and giving person not only to her extended family but to everybody that crosses her path. As a nurse by trade, she is in the perfect occupation and I respect her for being able to be so selfless 24/7. She will always be the number one person I turn to, no matter what.
DAD
Let me tell you about my dad. He is talented, sensitive, caring, and both strong and gentle at the same time. Why both, you ask? He is strong because he had the ability to take the risk and the plunge from doing a full-time insurance job every day to support his family and the bills they had to pay to resigning from that and putting his heart and soul full-time into his lifelong passion – guitar. Not just guitar, but everything that surrounds this instrument. Teaching the theory and the practice to children and literally shaping their fingers to create beautiful music for the rest of their lives, performing as a part of multiple bands and groups in front of hundreds of people to entertain and push his creativity and talents to the limit, and teaching lessons to people who just want to learn the skill from a master like himself. Throughout my entire life, people would enter our home for guitar lessons every week from Geoff Gunderson. But guitar is not what defines my dad. What defines my dad is his amazing personality, his warm heart, and his extremely sensitive side. That is where the gentle comes in. He will cry at movies, at commercials, at weddings and most recently – watching a proposal on the big screen at a Twins game. I get this from him. It’s a happy cry though – he is strong when it comes to the dramatic things that happen in life, because he doesn’t want to make us think he isn’t there for us when we need to deal. But really, we know he is.
MY SISTER
My sister is arguably my other other half. We have had so many times together, so many memories, experiences, firsts, lasts… the list goes on. Marissa got the better name. She got the better hair, the better skin, the better nose, well – let’s just say that if I didn’t love her so much, I would hate her because I would be jealous of her! We have our ups and our downs, but mostly they are ups because as we have gotten older and wiser we have learned to turn the downs into ups. Make sense? 😉 Marissa is creative, just like me, and when you put our minds together we form this very eclectic, very weird, very scrunch-face what-the-*?** sort of thing. But we are fine with that. We have both embraced our quirkiness, and I love to just be with her. As an older sister, I went through all of the firsts with the parents. She had it made when it came to them knowing what the consequences should be for certain things… I was the experiment. When we were little, we shared a wall between our bedrooms. We developed codes with knocking, or if we really felt like it, we would just yell to each other when we were trying to fall asleep. The best part was when our dad would come into my room and have me start a story. He would then go to Marissa’s room, and have her add on to the story, and continue until we were both so sleepy we would fall asleep and dream about the stories we had just created about kitties and butterflies and sherbet ice-cream. I love that she plays guitar and sings like a rock star, and isn’t afraid to do it in front of people. UNLIKE ME. We do have our differences too. She was in a sorority in college – something I never thought was anything I wanted to do until she showed me that it was completely invaluable to get to know so many amazing girls and have so many experiences. She was in dance during her entire school experience… I wish I was! Instead, I was in marching band. Woo. (but I am proud to say I loved every minute of it, thank you very much! I got to go to New York and Cali to march in the parades… so there.) I love you Marissa. Thank you for being such an amazing sister.
And here is a picture taken right after Marissa was born. Boy, was I confused!
