Day 60 - 8/16/10

"Ice cream! Attack!!"

Tonight, we celebrated my Dad's belated birthday (we were only off a day). He wants to say he's 34 but I'm 19. You can figure out the math and see if that makes sense. We went to Mikado Sushi Restaurant in Pineville. Oddly enough, I think this might be the first time in a while I can recall us all having a "family dinner." It not like we hate being around each other and whatnot, but I always felt that my family is not the typical American family. And there's nothing wrong with that. My parents are often working their butts off supporting all of us so I can't blame them if I end up eating dinner by myself or grabbing a taco salad at Taco Bell for supper. The whole modern typical family idea has never captivated me I suppose either.

Dictionary.com defines family as "a basic social unit consisting of parents and their children, considered as a group, whether dwelling together or not." But there is so much more to family that sentence. Family is support. Family is love. Family is faith. All these things aren't built upon a foundation of stereotypical "Brady Bunch-ish" type of family. I'm not trying to offend those people who fall under that category. I'm glad that you can live like that because at times its very attractive and somewhat lucrative to observe. My family is just not like that. We are independent when we need to be, but dependent when it matters most. And I've grown to love and accept it. Family nights always remind of how special my life is. As I continue to pack and prepare to go back to Baton Rouge (only 1 more day), I am reminded that I'm blessed to come from a "not so typical" family.

-R.D.