Every day of my life I count myself lucky to have the family that I do, absolutely nothing could replace them and most days I probably wouldn’t make it through without them. Without their support and love, the days would blend together but with them daily blessings seem to stick out so much more. Really it’s just the littlest things—how you always have someone to call when things get tough, someone who knows you better than anyone. Along with the loving parents and siblings that somewhere between the arguing and pranks became my best friends, I gained so much perspective on who I am through them. So here’s the top 5 reasons why I’m proud to say I’m close with my family.

I see the qualities I gained from both my parents in a stronger light

The energetic work ethic of my dad couples well with the physical features that match my mom’s. I can also attribute my success to all the effort they put into teaching me different things: creativity from art and dance classes, bravery from working with animals 3 times my size, knowledge to understand things new to me, patience to attempt to understand even the impossible unknowns.

Being the middle kid is actually the best

The middle kid gets to be a little older when they want to and be immature when they don’t. Yeah, anyone can act this way but what I mean is that the pressure to be the oldest comes with more responsible but no one really judges the middle kid for acting younger around their little siblings. So even though everyone says that the middle kid is the forgotten kid its actually like being the kid without any preconceived notions on how you should act.

Parents and older siblings give the best advice

When you consider yourself family oriented, the pieces of wisdom that they hand down are so valued to you.

My family supports all that I do

From figuring out who I am and where I belong they have my back every step of the way. Even when the next step can’t be seen yet or suddenly we’re taking a different path than expected.

Family-time is a treasure

Hearing about their life dreams and where their next steps are going to take them reminds me that we really are all in this together.

No matter what else I gain or earn my family will always be the people I lean on and learn from.