The Power of Family

The Melancholy Joy of Coming Home

”Only our immediate family can show us unconditional love.”

~Mr. Fitzsimmons

     No matter how bad a day has been, family will always be there to love you when you get home. And when it feels like everything in my day has gone wrong, family will help me see the silver lining. There was nothing that could have happened, nothing I could have done, that couldn’t have been washed away by the familiar sound of the front door closing and the warm air inside enveloping me. On one of the worst days of 7th grade, with piles of homework ahead of me and at the end of my fuse, it felt like nothing could get me out of my slump. But family was there to help. It was a damp day in late March or early April, when the whole world is drably waiting for spring to truly begin. I’d been up late the night before with a recurring nightmare, had nearly flunked a math test, was berated for my intellect by classmates, and had to spend an hour running in 55° rain while the other sports were allowed to stay inside. I was just done. Fed up with school, fed up with my classmates, fed up with sports, and fed up with the horrible weather. Then I walked in the door, wet, tired, and frazzled. My mom looked up, and without saying a word she just took me into her arms. In that one moment, that one hug, all the things I had been struggling with disappeared. All I cared about was me, and my mom, in a warm inviting house, surrounded by the melancholy joy of finally coming home.