Family by Madison Hansel
“FAMILY…functional, dysfunctional, uniquely personal.” – Don Riesett, Writing Mentor & Teacher
My family is an out of the box bunch. My mom’s side is quite wild and chaotic. A lot of my mom’s side of the family lives pretty close to us. All of my Uncles are crazy and loud people. My Uncle Joe is an alcoholic and amputee, Uncle Tony is completely off the chart when it comes to having energy. And my Uncle Dave no one talks to because he has burned his bridges with every person in our family, except for my biological father, Zachary.
Zachary got out of prison two and a half months ago and went missing last night. We have been reconnecting and spending time together but he has severe depression and has been struggling at adjusting to the real world after being incarcerated for the past six years. He has been living with his best friend since he got out, but he left last night and no one has been able to reach him. I do hope he comes back and, if he is messing up, I hope he goes to rehab. I hope he is okay.
I don’t see my dad’s side of the family as much because they live farther. Occasionally, we see my Uncle Bud, my dad’s brother. My Munt Gail and Uncle Paul moved back to Maryland last year to be closer to some family, but decided they want to move back to Nevada because they love gambling and hate the cold weather here. Sometimes they come to cookouts, but it is really rare.
For holidays, like Thanksgiving, Christmas, and Easter, we just have my old mom-mom over and sometimes my Uncle Tony and my cousin Skylar and her girlfriend Liv will come. My old mom-mom used to host all the family dinners and made all the food from scratch. She always had the most festive decorations and I loved going there for every holiday. She had to move into an apartment so we can’t eat family dinner at her house anymore. She still decks out her apartment and makes some of the food and desserts.
I don’t know what I would do without my old mom-mom. She is one of my favorite people and has always believed in me and hoped that I would be the grandchild that does something good with my life.
I have three sisters who I don’t live with. We all live with the parents of one of our parents, except the youngest, Gracie, who was adopted 24 hours after she was born, so I never got to meet her. Mariah lives with our biological mother’s parents and then Hailee and I live with our father’s parents. Out of my siblings, I got the best parents. My parents take really good care of me and actually wanted to raise me. My sisters didn’t have much of a choice and are with people who don’t want to take care of them. I used to feel obligated to take care of them and always make sure they are doing what they are supposed to do, but that’s not my responsibility. I talk to Mariah and she lives in Essex so I see her sometimes. Hailee lives in Delaware and is completely off the rails.
I have other “family members” that aren’t biologically related to me and that would include Myshell. Shell and her family are like a second family to me. I get invited to all the family events and Shell comes to all my family gatherings. Our moms treat us like sisters and buy us matching clothes like we are twins. She comes on vacation with my family every year. We talk almost every day and see each other often. I love her so much and am so grateful that she is in my life.
I am definitely a daddy’s girl and am spoiled rotten by my dad. To him I will forever be his little girl and as soon as I do the puppy dog face, he caves. My dad and I used to go grocery shopping every Sunday and we would listen to rock music on the way there and back. I would sit in my car seat and pretend like I was the drummer and my dad was the guitarist. We also would go to breakfast at the Lunchbox which we still go to today.
My family is very complicated and filled with crazy stories. Stories that I can’t even share because they are so wild you probably wouldn’t believe me even if I told you. Still, we are somewhat normal and my parents are so caring and helpful to everyone, even people who don’t deserve their kindness. My mom can hold a grudge against someone but not my dad. He is one of the most genuinely sweet people and cares about his family more than anything. I don’t know what I would do without any of my family. I love them all, even the slightly crazy ones.
Madison Hansel
October 18, 2024