Family is a wonderful thing. They are the people who love you almost unconditionally and you can be yourself around them. When life gets hard and you are up to your ears in problems, they are there to lend a helping hand or a shoulder to cry on. Some teens don't agree with these statements; their only feeling in regard to their relatives is annoyance because they get asked about school during holidays or their cheeks are pinched.
  Personally, I walk on the golden middle road: I don't despise visiting my extended family, but I am not eager to do it either. I meet them once a year and when I do, I get the red carpet treatment. Everyone rushes to greet or hug me, to offer refreshments or sweets. They are genuinely glad to see me which flatters me; it's a delicacy for Anton, my ego ( if you didn't get the "Ratatouille" reference, shame on you, you uncultured creature). Plus, occasionally, family bonding time is enjoyable because those people you rarely see can do some unusual stuff.
One jaw-dropping event happened last year, at Christmas time. I arrived a few days early so I witnessed the preparations made for the special meal. My grandparents had invited all the relatives who lived in a 10 km radius to their house for a feast. The members of my family gathered from far and wide and filled the dining room with the sound of lively conversation. There were short aunts, tall uncles, rowdy cousins, quiet ones, caring parents and their chubby infants and I was there too, marveling that they were somewhat related to me. Even my great-grandmother, who was close to turning 95, was brought from the nursing home to spend the holiday with us. Upon seeing everyone at the table full of the delicious food which had been tickling my nostrils for some time, I was astonished there had been enough room for everything. We could choose from a great variety of dishes like roasted pork or chicken with potatoes and all sorts of salads on the side, sarmale and for dessert, gingerbread, cozonac and different types of cake. One look at that table was enough to make anyone's mouth water. We all dug in like starving wolves and cheerfully chatted to our companions in between bites.
  At one point, my great-grandma, who had been eating quietly, asked us to turn our attention to her for she had something important to say. Silence fell over the spacious room as everyone stared expectingly and attentively at the oldest member of our family. After collecting her thoughts, she spat it out. There was a man at the nursing home who had taken an interest in her and they started talking which resulted in them becoming fond of each other. Recently, he had confessed his love, then proposed and she had accepted. She extended a hand to show us the engagement ring, a simplistic, but pretty one. Getting over the initial confusion and disbelief, we congratulated her, wished her a happy marriage and the works. I took slightly longer to recover from the shock because getting married at her age was inconceivable for me. But that only goes to show how narrow-minded I could be. After all, love doesn't care for earthly things like age and destiny's ways are whirling.
  An occurrence like this one is sure to spice up any family gathering and it made me look forward to future ones. I was delighted that my great-grandmother had found someone she truly liked, someone who could help her forget all the things time had taken from her. On the way back home, my aunt's words lingered in my mind: " Have they stoped giving her the meds?"

Last edited by Cristina.without.h (2019-06-08 20:53:46)