Family = Patience

Patience isn’t easy, I know and understand this since I’ve grown up with a big family. I can definitely see the struggle of not ripping my younger sister’s head off everytime she says something dumb and ignorant. I’m the eldest of five kids, meaning I have four younger siblings. It’s crazy and a lot sometimes. We also have five animals. Two cats, three dogs. Then there’s the fact that my dad works Monday through Friday from morning to dinnertime same with my mom. Sooo, the expectations tend to lie on me a lot. Being patient means that you are understanding and tolerant. A patient person experiences difficulties without complaining… I am not that. When it comes to my family I am probably one of the least patient people ever. But I can recall a time recently when I had to be patient.

I have been working nights and also dealing with drama lately. It’s been a huge pain, but I hadn’t been telling my family how drained I had been because we all have our stuff, ya know? Anyway I come home, it’s like nine-ish? I had gone to school, gone to a two hour drama rehearsal, then worked a five hour shift. I was exhausted and I still had school work to do and stuff but that was the last of my dads concerns. “I want the living room cleaned now. It should’ve been done before you went to work.” “But dad, I had drama. I had no time.” “Well you should make time.” And with that he stormed off to his room, slamming his door. I was infuriated. My little brother, who was sitting on his game, laughed at me. I didn’t understand what he found funny. I wanted to scream at him. Hurt him, I don’t know. Anything to get him to stop mocking me.

But I breathed. In. Out. Standing in the middle of the living room in my work uniform. “Good night dad. Good night Lucas.” I didn’t clean the living room. I went to my room and collapsed into my bed. It probably had a bad day. Maybe he was frustrated because of something the kids did before I got home. Who knows. I know he shouldn’t have lashed at me, but my lashing back wouldn’t have fixed anything. The next morning my mom thanked me for cleaning the living room. Which was strange because I didn’t clean the living room. Lucas then told me he did it because he felt bad for being a jerk. Sometimes, even when you really wanna lash out, patience pays off. Whatever was going on with them faded away with the morning and while in the moment they shouldn’t have said those it’s best to be the bigger person.

“messy livingroom” by bensons is licensed under CC BY-NC-SA 2.0.