So You Think
On the outside looking in everything seems perfect. We have the perfect house, nice cars, expensive things, nice clothes, the perfect life, or so everyone thinks. Things and money can make you happy temporarily but people and love make you happy enough to last a life time. That’s what my family is lacking… love. Every family has their problems, some bigger than others. Some families know how to hide it better than others. My family is falling apart and no one is noticing.

My friends always talk about how they envy my life and everything I have. That’s just the point, all of the money my family has means nothing in the end. We can have that summer house over in Boca or the nicest cars you could imagine. But in the end things are just things. Money gets into people’s heads. A prime example would be my father, he used to work in a factory making soles of shoes, then he got lucky giving a few presentations and talking with the right people. Now he’s the head executive of a booming music industry leading pop culture as we know it. We became rich and my dad moved our family to a fancy home in Connecticut where we barely get to see him, and when we do get to see him, all I can smell is booze. He’s now traveling the country meeting with who knows who for the business, or so we think.

My mother soaks up the fame. She loves the glamorous life style. Shopping at stores with names I cannot pronounce, always making us wear top of the line name brand clothing. She loves having tea with her wealthy house wife friends. Watching the young and the restless, being that picture perfect high society wife. Yet she cries every night, and acts like when my father comes home she doesn’t notice the smell of perfume on his clothes isn’t her Chanel. She has all of the money she could ask for. Now where is the happiness?

The only reason my older brother Tommy isn’t in jail yet in because we can pay people the keep their mouths shut. Tommy is the kind of guy everyone wants to be, athletic, charming, knows how to have a party. Even Tommy knew our family wasn’t as perfect as they make it out to be. He loves his ’78 Camaro, but does he love it when daddy hits him when he’s has too much to drink, and tells him he’s a mistake and won’t ever go anywhere in life? Who would’ve thought, captain of the lacrosse team spent his whole junior summer in rehab for overdosing on prescriptions meds that weren’t prescribed to anyone we knew, but rather everyone thought he got a scholarship to go on a learning experience of a lifetime trip to Japan. So everyone thought.

My family has what society would say is perfect. On the inside looking out though, you would have a much different opinion. What’s wrong with me you ask? Well I get to watch this all happen. What goes through my head on a daily basis while most sixteen year olds get to worry about where the next party will be, I get to worry about my family. How long until my parents actually get a divorce. I get to worry about whenever I hear sirens, is my brother involved? Most teenagers my age don’t have to worry about that. Or do they? That is me looking into their lives, just the same as them looking into mine. Every family has their niches and problems. So you think…