Family Happiness
Roy Carter
Professor Keel
English 1101
21 July 2007
Family Happiness Happiness comes in many different forms. Some people are made happy with money while others are happiest when they are in positions of power. However individuals like Joyce Brothers have simpler views of what happiness is.
Brothers attempted to express this when she wrote “When you look at your life, the greatest happinesses are family happinesses,” and though I did not personally know her I feel as if I know exactly where she is coming from. When looking back on my life I realize that some of my happiest moments have been times with my family doing ordinary things. Until age seven I was an only child and the only grandchild on my mother’s side, as such many of my early familial moments are that of special one-on-one time with adults. I fondly remember staying with my grandparents while my parents were working, they seemed to guide me along exciting adventures of the mundane in ways only grandparents could. What I would not give to revisit a day from my sixth summer with them. At this very moment I can almost smell the magic that was always in the air as I would watch my grandmother hanging sheets on the line to dry. I can almost hear the cicadas buzzing in the pines as I helped my grandfather pick summer vegetables in his large garden; I even miss the sharp offensive smells of pickling those vegetables with my grandmother later in the afternoon. I did not know it at the time but it was moments like those that I attached my heart-strings to my family, and it is moments like now that those strings are tugged and I know the happiness my family brings me. As an adult I have learned to cherish moments like these that I was once incapable of appreciating as a child. Having known this pleasure myself I make great efforts to plant magical seeds like those my grandparents planted for me. I take the time and go the extra mile to develop relationships with the younger members of my family
Professor Keel
English 1101
21 July 2007
Family Happiness Happiness comes in many different forms. Some people are made happy with money while others are happiest when they are in positions of power. However individuals like Joyce Brothers have simpler views of what happiness is.
Brothers attempted to express this when she wrote “When you look at your life, the greatest happinesses are family happinesses,” and though I did not personally know her I feel as if I know exactly where she is coming from. When looking back on my life I realize that some of my happiest moments have been times with my family doing ordinary things. Until age seven I was an only child and the only grandchild on my mother’s side, as such many of my early familial moments are that of special one-on-one time with adults. I fondly remember staying with my grandparents while my parents were working, they seemed to guide me along exciting adventures of the mundane in ways only grandparents could. What I would not give to revisit a day from my sixth summer with them. At this very moment I can almost smell the magic that was always in the air as I would watch my grandmother hanging sheets on the line to dry. I can almost hear the cicadas buzzing in the pines as I helped my grandfather pick summer vegetables in his large garden; I even miss the sharp offensive smells of pickling those vegetables with my grandmother later in the afternoon. I did not know it at the time but it was moments like those that I attached my heart-strings to my family, and it is moments like now that those strings are tugged and I know the happiness my family brings me. As an adult I have learned to cherish moments like these that I was once incapable of appreciating as a child. Having known this pleasure myself I make great efforts to plant magical seeds like those my grandparents planted for me. I take the time and go the extra mile to develop relationships with the younger members of my family