If your family is anything like mine, sometimes you’ll wonder how you could possibly explain them to your friends or anyone who doesn’t know them. You sometimes question why you love them so much when they are some of the craziest people you know. My family is insane, in a good way of course and I think that because they are this way I love them even more. As my Papa constantly says, “You call it chaos, we call it family.” And that couldn’t be more true for my family.

Almost every week my loud family of 14+ gets together one night for family dinner at my grandparent’s house. With so many people, so many conversations happen at once and everything is all over the place. My grandfather sits silently looking in every direction trying to keep up with the multitude of conversations until he decides he can’t even come close to following one. Usually when you leave family dinner you leave with more than just leftovers, you get a headache and a lot of new stories to bring with you, too. But we wouldn’t have it any other way. No matter how crazy it gets at family dinner and anytime we’re all together, we all still show up and we really do enjoy every minute of the craziness.

Ever since I was little, my family has always done everything together. There aren’t a lot of things I can remember when my family wasn’t there. We do a few mini trips a year with all (or most) of us in tow. Even though we’re growing up and doing different things in life, nothing has really changed. My grandparents and aunt live just two miles away from my family and my aunt and uncle live right upstairs from us. We still do everything together (even though sometimes we are probably too big of a group to do so) and we all love every minute of it.

If I didn’t have my family, so many things in my life would not be possible. I wouldn’t be able to do what I do every day without them constantly pushing me to do my best, congratulating me for the good things and picking me up when I stumble on the not so good things. I can count on them for anything, no matter how big or small it may be. They motivate me to be the best person I can be and I’ve learned so many things from them throughout my life.

When I stop and think about my family I can’t help but feel extremely grateful that I have so many people who love me as much as they do. No matter how many people walk out of my life throughout the years, I know I can always count on my family to be there every step of the way. Even through all of the joyful, scary, crazy and tough times life has thrown at us, we’ve always stuck together. As the years go on, things will definitely change, but one thing I know for sure is that my family will always be there for me. Nothing is more comforting than knowing you have a group of people who will always be by your side. My family is everything to me and I wouldn’t change them for the world.