Familia

I've had a couple of conversations lately about if I would ever move away and live somewhere besides Utah.  My argument is always the same, that it would be so hard for me to leave my family.  Sure it would be awesome to explore the world and gain the experiences you might only get from being off on your own somewhere else.  But I love my family, and I love living close to all of them.

I don’t think people realize how close I am with my family.  I’m not even talking about just my immediate family but my relatives as well.  I am best friends with all my cousins.  I know all of them by name.  I could even list off most of their children.  I’ve grown up always doing things with my family.  Both of my parents come from a family of six kids, and both only have one sibling that lives outside of Utah.  The rest live within an hour and half of my house.  So being part of a very big family and being able to see the majority of them whenever I want is what I’m used to.  And the thought of changing that doesn't make sense to me.  I've loved growing up knowing all of my cousins, and I want the same experience for my future children.

After the last conversation I had though, I started questioning myself.  Could I move away?  What sort of adventures am I missing out on by not ever wanting to move away?  Am I being too big of a baby saying it would be hard for me?  The fact that the longest I've stayed away from home was three weeks?  Does that make me pathetic?  But then a family event happened this week that disregarded those questions. 

This week my brothers have been playing on a March madness basketball league.  It is put on through Murray and each year of graduates can get a team together to play against the other years.  Now, it’s just a little fun tournament, nothing too big and it only lasts one week, but my family goes to support and watch them.  Tuesday night, my entire family was there except my two younger siblings (due to rebellion and leaving for their own [softball] tournament in St George.)  Even my grandparents showed up.  So yes, there were 21 of us there cheering on my two brothers.

It was as I was sitting there with everyone when I looked around and realized why I didn't want to move away from my family.  I love the support and friendships we all have with each other.  No matter what is going on, we are there for each other.  My siblings are my best friends.  My nieces and nephews are all best friends.  Who would ever want to leave that?

So call me a baby.  Call me pathetic.  Call me whatever you’d like.  I don’t want to move away from my family.  If I am missing out on experiences out in the world, I don’t care.  People say “you don’t know what you’re missing.”  And they’re right.  I don’t know what I’m missing.  But I do know what I’d be missing at home if I were to leave.  So I’m perfectly content staying where I’m at. 

xoxo

:)