I am smiling just thinking about how I could not wait to get out on my own and live my life. As a young man I was so eager to separate myself from my parents and siblings because I wanted to experience the world on my own terms. Free from the prying eyes and advice I was used to having around me. I remember the feeling of freedom and it's excitement. Over the years since, I have come to have that personal perspective I needed to be able to see how important my family was to me. Growing up with family all around me was stifling at times. Then growing up even more without family around me was lonely. I have learned to appreciate my family now in ways that were never obvious to me when I was younger. I am fortunate to have had a family to grow up in because I know that many children don't get that experience. All of these thoughts and emotions come back to me now and I see how blinded I was because of my own selfishness. I needed to get out on my own and understand things in the best way I knew how. I also know that even though I thought I was right about so many things, I was unwilling to listen to others who's advice would have been helpful to me had I the ears to listen. I cannot change the way things turned. What I do today is appreciate my family. They are the part of me I was willing to let go of earlier in my life. Not so anymore. I get it now. Life is really short. I stay connected to my family because I know now that they will always be a part of me.
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