Family Dynamics
Today's the day. After what seems like endless practicing and planning and e-mailing and calling, today is the day of my first college visit. This is the day that I thought would never come and now that it is here, I'm filled with half-excitement and half-nervousness.
Today's the day. After what seems like spending every day focusing on grades to impress colleges with a good GPA, and testing, and applications, and essays and recommendations letters, today is the day that I go to see if I am a good perspective student for a Catholic school.
Today's the day. Everything is a chain reaction from now, and before you know, I'll be filing for scholarships and looking at majors and deciding colleges and possibly moving into a dorm, and being dropped off for my first day of school for the very first time.
Family dynamics are changing. They started changing when I picked up a second part-time job and am away from the house everyday. They'll continue changing as I work towards college and then eventually move out of the house that I have lived in for almost eighteen years.
Enjoy your family dynamics NOW. Things will never be the same. It is very slim chances that you will all be living under the same roof again. You think you'll be glad to be out of it, but you'll miss it. I'll miss coming home everyday and talking to my mom about work. I'll miss bouncing apologetics and politics off my dad for his opinion. I'll miss sitting around and talking with my next youngest sisters about clothes and Christmas plans, laughing at my even younger sisters about random memories, and I'll miss giving little boy's piggybacks and giving a little girl hugs and kisses everyday.
If you think I'm crazy, just wait. It reminds me of a story that Bran Hansen posted on his blog on www.air1.com:
When you are going to have a baby, "This is going to be pretty exciting," you say.
They say, "You just wait."
"You just wait, because you won't be getting any sleep anymore, once that baby's born. It's all over. It gets harder. It gets worse."
Your baby is fun. You think it's hilarious, how he's amused by one particular stuffed dog above all other toys.
They say, "You just wait."
"Just wait, because when that kid is toddling around, pulling down the curtains, and getting into stuff, you can't look away for a second. It gets harder. It gets worse."
Your toddler is a blast. Everything is new and wonderful to him, from puppies to repeatedly crashing towers of blocks. He laughs every time, and wants you to "Do again!"
They say, "You just wait."
"Just wait, because when your kid starts really talking, you'll get tired of that sassy mouth. You'll wish he was still a year old. It gets harder. It gets worse."
Your elementary-age kid is an absolute joy. You can play take him swimming, play catch with him, and teach him hilarious end-zone dances to amuse your friends.
They say, "You just wait."
"Just wait until he's a teenager, because he'll learn how much he doesn't like you and won't want to have anything to do with you no matter what and he'll eat everything and you'll get very tired of him and want him out of the house as soon as possible. It gets worse."
Your teenager is fascinating. You can't get enough of him. He makes you laugh, because, well, you saddled him with your exact sense of humor. You get to play video games with him. He beats you at chess, sometimes twenty times in a row. He fills your home with music, first with a screeching sound, that, months later, becomes recognizably melodic, and then the sweetness of Bach on violin. He mows the lawn. Not always happily, but he mows the lawn. You catch him listening to your favorite bands in his room. He says things that you never thought about before. He grows taller than you.
They say, "You just wait."
"Just wait until he moves away, because your heart will break in two."
And... for once, the very first time, ever...
They're right.
Enjoy. Your. Family. Now. Before you know it things will change. Don't spend now worrying about the future. Spend now enjoying the present.
God bless you all,
Chloe M.