One Big Happy Family

There are 9 people in my family (I'm the oldest of 7 kids). It's chaos almost every minute of every day, but I absolutely love it. That's why I go home every weekend, and call home in the meantime. Once people turn 18, they are technically liberated from their family as a community, but I opted to keep mine. It's the one community I'm the most hesitant to abandon.



Above all else, my family's main value is unity and togetherness. That may sound cliche, but I definitely think that some families value getting along more than others. My family definitely falls in the category of one that values respect for the individual as well as the collective.



And I think we really do a good job of working together and supporting each other. (I think big families are usually like that.) We work together on just about everything and spend a lot of time with each other. For example, I go to almost every one of my brother's basketball games, and the whole family helps him practice for baseball tryouts.


It's probably atypical for a 20-year-old college student to be such a determined part of her family. I'm graduating in a couple months and, though I could go anywhere and be anything, I most want to live in Charles County and spend time with my family. They understand me and yet still accept me. I hope that the future doesn't make me give up this, my favorite community.