I have always been close to my family. They are the people to cheer me up when down and to encourage me when I doubt. My family has always been my safety net; if I mess up they have always been there for me. I built a sense of security by having them so close, but this security changed in a manner that made me see my family in a new way. Even though what happened when I graduated fifth grade wasn’t anything as dramatic as a death in the family or even a fear of Middle School, it still changed me. It was simply this: as I graduated fifth grade, my brother graduated High School. I stayed at home and my brother moved to college. Our family that was once a laid back structure was now an intricately organize calendar because to do anything we had to make plans. To see my brother we had to set a time and date not simply walk downstairs.
The closest person to me moved to what then seemed so far away, Denver. My brother and parents tried to comfort me, “Nothing will change. You will still see him tons!” This made me feel better, I heard what I wanted to hear. My reassurance soon faded after a month without seeing him. I then realized things had changed and nothing was in fact the same. There were no more secret walks to the nearby Safeway for sodas so our parents didn’t find out and no more wrestling around until we were covered with rug burns. I missed my brother and I needed to see him. I finally nagged my parents enough to drive me to Denver to visit. And my parents were right nothing had changed. We still laughed and got along as if he had never left. He was always going be there for me. Two years later my brother moved 3300 miles away to Ecuador for school. This was harder to except. I could deal with a 30 minute drive to visit my brother but a seven hour plane ride seemed a bit much. I went from seeing my brother every couple months to seeing him once a year and this was hard. But when I went to visit him, once again nothing had changed. It was now clear that wherever my family was they would always be close by.

Later I was the one who moved away. When I was 12 I spent two weeks in Spain playing street soccer with out my family. This prepared me for when I later moved to Spain. My sophomore year in high school I no longer felt a need to be geographically close to my family. They would be there for me no matter where I was. That year, I moved to Spain and I lived with family friends. The change in lifestyle was dramatic. Almost everything was different, the food, the people, the weather and the family I stayed with. Despite being thousands of miles away I still felt the presence of my parents. With them or without them, my family will always be a big part of my life. They give me direction, provide me balance and they inspire new interests. Next year I am going off to college and I know that wherever I go they’ll follow close behind. I believe that family is always there.