The Importance of Fenkell/Fankle Family to Me

The term "family" is one that I feel many people, who are apart of one, never truly value or appreciate until they lose someone close or someday realize just how important family in fact is in their lives. I have spent the last two years of my life at college without my older brother Joel, who lives in California and somewhat without my younger brother Jeffrey, who just got into Indiana University. My whole life was spent competing, playing, and living with my brothers, when all of a sudden it disappeared when I ventured off to East Lansing to attend Michigan State University. As I look back at the early days of my childhood, when my whole family lived together under the same roof, I can only wish that I would have informed Joel or Jeffrey how much I truly cared and loved them, and what they meant to me. I'm 20 years old and yes, I don't know everything there is to know, but I've experienced and journeyed through most of my life with my counterparts, my other halves, my blood, my brothers, my family. The person who I have become today is due largely in part to the influence that my brothers have had on me.

My mother and father are undoubtedly two of the most incredible individuals I've ever met. The simple fact that they dealt with the bullshit that their three sons have provided them throughout the years, and still maintained the love that every child desires, is admirable. I don’t see myself as a perfect child and nor will I ever, but one aspect of my personality that I've always kept constant is my sensitivity and understanding when it came to the simple responsibilities of family life. For example, when my family all goes out to dinner or when my family goes on vacations, I realize that these opportunities don't arise very often and sadly won't in the upcoming years due to whatever outside reasons, but at the end of that day I always told my mother that I love her as well as my father. I see myself truly blessed to be in the situation I find myself in. It has nothing to do with financial means or looks, or even materialistic things, it all came down to love, it all came down to respect, and it surely all comes down to the love I have for my family. It will remain that way for the rest of my life I can guarantee you that. Hopefully, I can instill this important concept in my children so that they can pass this on to their children for futures to come.