My favorite time of the day as a kid was when my father came home from work. My dad would pull up to the driveway and my sisters and I would come greet him at the door with a hug and a kiss on the cheek. I always remembered the smell of sweat and the residue from all the dust he worked around. After saying hello to us all, he would head to where my mom was in the kitchen. She would usually be finishing up dinner just as my dad made it home. Then he would head to his room to wash up, and about an hour later, everything was ready for all of us to sit down for dinner.
Dinner time was a time to share. We shared about our day, how school was, and what we did after coming home. Dad wouldn’t talk too much about his job, and now as an adult, I understand why. My favorite time was when one of us would ask him about any new jokes he had heard about while at work. He would sometimes have those kind of dad jokes most people complain about, but for us, his jokes were always the best. They were genuinely funny, and I always thought he had a talent for telling them.
After dinner, during the summers, we would walk around our neighborhood as the sun was getting ready to set. We would run ahead of our parents as my mom and dad held hands while walking behind us. Every time we did this, I would wish time could slow down. I would wish that happiness we all seemed to simultaneously feel, would last forever. Eventually the sun would set and we had to go inside, but just before getting back to our house, I would run ahead of my family and turn around as they walked towards me. I can still close my eyes and remember the moments of how my two younger sisters would usually be pushing each other, and having a little fight about anything. Johanna, running behind them with her little feet, just freshly learning how to use them. And my mom and dad, talking about something I wasn’t old enough to understand, but holding hands.
Life felt perfect for me at that time. There was nothing I would have changed, nothing I would have traded or asked for in exchange because I felt complete. Now, I said that my dad coming home was my favorite time of the day, but he wasn’t what made that part of the day perfect. It was that, finally at that time of the day, my family was together, and we made each other feel complete. There isn’t anything better than family, to me. They are the best part of me and my life. My sisters, now older of course, make the greatest friends I could have asked for, and my mom, now a single parent, makes the best mom and dad. I wouldn’t replace any of them.
Although my dad is no longer here, I don’t feel incomplete. Some people don’t have both parents or don’t have siblings, and that’s okay. Family, no matter how much of it you may have, can be enough if you let it be enough. My favorite time is still when it’s spent with family, whether it be with my sisters, or with my mom, or even with just Juan, but it’s always with them that I’ve shared the best times with. Family is important. They are the ones who teach you most about care, dedication and most importantly, about unconditional love. And sure, my family may not seem perfect in everyone’s eyes, but it is for me. They were there since the beginning, and they are the ones I want there for me till the end.
Sincerely,
Heidi