Joe M. 4M

Three Shields Surrounding Me

My family is like a generator that doesn’t let our power die out.

My dad was born in Pennsylvania on June 13, 1968. After college, he went to work at Deloite where he still works. Later he was introduced to my mom and they married in 2001. My dad makes me feel comfortable around him. When I am scared in the middle of the night, unlike most dads, he doesn’t just shoo me away, he lets me stay and he relaxes me. He talks to me about my problems and this helps me solve them. My dad sometimes grills on Saturday nights. I find this special because I am with him outside and spending time alone with him. This gives me a chance to talk to him and to tell him what I did at school that week and he tells me what we’re going to do the next day. His food is so good that I keep on asking him, “When is it going to be ready?”

I have a mom who is different from other moms! My mom was born in Lebanon in the year 1966.  She was the first child born to her parents. Later her two sisters and two brothers were born. It was hard for my mother to be the oldest of five. Sometimes she wished her siblings didn’t exist because she always had to look after them. Mom knew she would get the full blame if she didn’t do something to get them to listen to her. Later she went to Harvard in the USA. After college she decided to live in America and decided to become a doctor. My mom is the one who cooks at night and she’s the parent who is at home when my dad travels. I am very close to my mom because I share secrets with her and she knows what it’s like to be my age. Mom sometimes cooks Lebanese food for the fun of it and because it reminds her of her childhood. When I taste the food, I don’t want to swallow it too quickly because I want to have the joy of tasting every bite of it. Two of my favorite foods are her scrumptious spinach triangles, and her fabulous meat-shaped squares. When I bite into the squares, my mouth says, “Let the taste just absorb into your tongue!

My younger brother, Alex, was born on December 17 2004.Unlike most kids my brother was born with a hearing problem. When you are born you have a test to see if you can hear but Alex failed that test. He had to get hearing aids, but after a while he had to get an implant. After the surgery his hearing problems were solved. Alex is really close to me. He understands me, cheers me up, and acts like a fourth grader instead of a first grader which is good because then I feel I am always with someone my age.

A family is something that you are given and every body gets only one. People have to choose what to do with them. The choices are to be thankful that you have a few people that understand you and can feel your emotions or you can pretend that they don’t exist and that they are statues sitting next to you. I know that no matter what I will always be happy that I have a few people who love me.