It’s miraculous what lessons you learn about your family once you reach adulthood. As a child or a socially awkward teenager, you mostly stand off to the side of the scenes. You watch your family parade around and chaos unfold, but you never truly comprehend what’s going on.

I have reached the dawn of adulthood, and I have begun to see my family functions in an entirely new light.

Once you reach adulthood, you are trusted with so much more. You’re let in on all of the latest family drama and gossip. Who knew that Uncle Bill divorced Aunt Lisa and now he’s dating that new young blonde that Aunt Rhonda can’t stand and grandma won’t let in the house? You’re trusted with all of the new babies and little cousins that come in like a whirlwind to family reunions. The young adult cousin always gets flagged down when mommy and daddy need a breather.

You start to notice things about certain relatives that you never picked up on as a kid. You start to see how Aunt Susan and Uncle Tommy have nothing in common and why they have to keep their distance at family affairs.

While you can start to see the reasons that there are hiccups in plans and stirs in the family pot, you also catch glimmers of the most beautiful aspects of your family. You understand why everyone is capable of putting their differences to rest for the sake of a special occasion or celebration. You see that it’s better to have too much love and chaos than not enough.

You laugh until you cry and cry until you laugh and make invaluable memories at all of those silly get-togethers. You realize how grateful you are for each and every member and how incomplete life would be with just one missing piece of the family puzzle.

One of the greatest realizations you arrive at is the fact that you are going to be the one orchestrating family functions one day. You are going to be fighting with your brother over getting off work and coordinating with the kids’ soccer schedules to go visit your mom for her 70th. It’s crazy how quickly time goes by and it’s so crucial to appreciate every moment that you have with your loved ones. Appreciate every idiosyncrasy because you will miss the madness in its absence.