Reality- not so real
Christmas evening fell on my household and family members began to head back to their own homes with left-over ham, cookies, and pies. I don't often get the chance to spend time with my cousin, except around the holidays, so she and I decided to see a movie together and then have a sleep-over at my house.
After we rescued my car from being stuck in the snow, and returned from the theater, my cousin and I sat in the kitchen for probably 2 hours talking. Those 2 hours got my caught up on the past four months of my cousin's life and then some. My cousin goes to public school. I go to private school. She's gone through hell for nearly her entire life due to the divorce of her parents, each of their new spouses, and the current mental state that they're in. The two hour sum-up of her life brought me to tears.
Her life had been a storm of stress and anger and made mine seem like a calm breeze. I love my parents, and for the most part we get along just fine. My family's faith has really had a tremendous effect on the outcome of this life we've led. My parents have been calm enforcers of the laws in our house even during my sister's terrible phase of rebellion (I was too scared to talk to her during that time). I've heard people say that they love my house- something about it brings peace and rest. It's been a refuge for a lot of my friends who were going through rough patches with their families.
You know when you grow up around something and it just becomes normal to you? I've grown up in this safe and warm environment and never really understood that other people's homes were different from mine. I never quite understood why other kids didn't get along with their parents. "You don't know how lucky you are," my friend, Melissa, will say. "You don't know how lucky you are to have parents that love you and are as understanding as they are." Sure, I'd heard her, but it never sank in until I talked with my cousin.
It seems that one more shard has fallen out of my rose-tinted glasses and now reality is changing. My house... my life has been so incredibly different from the world outside of it.
After hearing my cousin say how my uncle would leave finger-shaped bruises on her and pull her hair and yell at her when she was younger (he's bipolar and was switching meds at that time) and how she gets in daily arguments with her dad and step-mom, I realized that I wouldn't have made it if I had lived her life. If I had been in the same position growing up then I would have killed myself well before this point in time. She's so strong, and I'm proud of her for it. But the pieces are not yet set for her- she is still far from where she could be. To her it's "whatever comes out good for me is ok" survival of the fittest. I pray that God will get her attention somehow. But once He does, my cousin is going to have the fight of her life.
After we rescued my car from being stuck in the snow, and returned from the theater, my cousin and I sat in the kitchen for probably 2 hours talking. Those 2 hours got my caught up on the past four months of my cousin's life and then some. My cousin goes to public school. I go to private school. She's gone through hell for nearly her entire life due to the divorce of her parents, each of their new spouses, and the current mental state that they're in. The two hour sum-up of her life brought me to tears.
Her life had been a storm of stress and anger and made mine seem like a calm breeze. I love my parents, and for the most part we get along just fine. My family's faith has really had a tremendous effect on the outcome of this life we've led. My parents have been calm enforcers of the laws in our house even during my sister's terrible phase of rebellion (I was too scared to talk to her during that time). I've heard people say that they love my house- something about it brings peace and rest. It's been a refuge for a lot of my friends who were going through rough patches with their families.
You know when you grow up around something and it just becomes normal to you? I've grown up in this safe and warm environment and never really understood that other people's homes were different from mine. I never quite understood why other kids didn't get along with their parents. "You don't know how lucky you are," my friend, Melissa, will say. "You don't know how lucky you are to have parents that love you and are as understanding as they are." Sure, I'd heard her, but it never sank in until I talked with my cousin.
It seems that one more shard has fallen out of my rose-tinted glasses and now reality is changing. My house... my life has been so incredibly different from the world outside of it.
After hearing my cousin say how my uncle would leave finger-shaped bruises on her and pull her hair and yell at her when she was younger (he's bipolar and was switching meds at that time) and how she gets in daily arguments with her dad and step-mom, I realized that I wouldn't have made it if I had lived her life. If I had been in the same position growing up then I would have killed myself well before this point in time. She's so strong, and I'm proud of her for it. But the pieces are not yet set for her- she is still far from where she could be. To her it's "whatever comes out good for me is ok" survival of the fittest. I pray that God will get her attention somehow. But once He does, my cousin is going to have the fight of her life.