There have been times in my life in which, I have taken you all for granted. Times where I have chosen to hang out with friends, not waken up early enough to see you, or just decided I wasn't feeling up to seeing everyone. I look back on these moments now, and I regret every single one of them. It's crazy how true the quote, "You don't know what you have, until it's gone," is.

At times in my life, I found you all just a little bit too crazy for me. There were times when I was on the verge of hiding underneath the table in order to hide the embarrassment I felt; but now, I realize that the craziness and uniqueness are the parts that I love the most about you all. There were times in my life where I only ever brought one friend around when it came to family events, because I feared that I would leave the family event with no friends at all, after they had the privilege of meeting you guys. Lucky enough: the friend I brought along was accepting and happens to have a family of their own that is just as crazy as you guys, which of whom, I love just as much!

The older I get though, the more I cherish every memory I have with you all: from family parties to camping trips, even all the way to the random get-togethers that we have; the ones that result in tears from laughing, and severe stomach pain too. The older I get, the more I want to see you all constantly, whether it be for just 5 minutes or for 5 days straight. I find myself seeing little pieces of you all in everything I do, every single day, and I realize how much I miss you all.

Yet, the older I get, the harder it is to see you all as frequently. Life gets in the way, things happen, plans change and instead of face to face interactions: face-time and texting become the means of communication between us all. Our family parties lose members constantly: cousins have college, aunts and uncles have to work, siblings have relationships, distance becomes the enemy while change works as its partner in crime, and I find myself thinking: "Where has the time gone?"

The memories have become my most cherished possessions, because with age, comes knowledge. I understand it's hard to make time to see each other, I understand that life brings challenges and obstacles, and that plans will change and new memories will have to wait to be made. So in the mean time, I will hold on to the ones I already have, and I will look forward to all the ones we will make someday, together.

Though distance, time and life may keep us apart, know that you all reside within my heart. You are the memories I will never forget, the base that I was built off of, and the people that shaped me into who I am. Family is where life begins and love never ends: so thank you for being mine.