All mixed up

What a bottle of emotions this weekend!

I finally got to see my favorite Auntie and Uncle this weekend. It's been a really long time since the last I saw them, I wasn't even legal to drive yet! It was a really nice weekend, although I never feel like I have enough time with family.

We met up in Brooklyn and I was so anxious to see everyone. They obviously had aged, and I just now understood what my mom was stressing to me all along. You should ALWAYS make time for the ones that you love. Being apart from your family, is incredibly difficult. Especially when you love them so much. It's really hard. I never understood why my sister got so upset because I hardly came to visit her, now I know. It was a bittersweet visit, filled with lots of smiles, laughs and crying. 

I of course got to see Sivan! He's really my second cousin, but he calls me his Auntie. It's just way easier and I kind of like having a "nephew" I can buy really awesome stuff for. He turned three years old this week, and it really awesome. Last year when I saw him, he didn't really talk to much. This year he serenaded me with his singing skills and air guitar to Queen. Which is totally hilarious, I could just save the moment forever. We took him to the park, fed him ice cream and went to dinner. It was a great time with my family, and the next day was his birthday party. We had Moroccan food for dinner. Although it was good, it wasn't my favorite. I don't think I'll ever really care for tahini. You know, that spice they put in hummus? I LOVE HUMMUS, but I always make mine without the tahini. I think it tastes weird, but what the hell do I know?! 

I tried extremely hard this weekend to portion control. Totally didn't eat the best food, but it wasn't the worst either. For breakfast on Saturday Hien took me to this place called Ripe. They have organic food, juices and such. We had whole wheat breakfast wraps with steamed veggies, and all natural smoothie for breakfast. I didn't feel so terrible about it, so the Moroccan food wasn't all that much of a bad choice either. They had this eggplant that was AMAZING. My love for eggplant is definitely increasing. I forgot how much I liked it, until dinner this weekend.

No matter what, your family should always come first. I know that it's really hard to have "good" relationships with people and things get complicated. But if you should make an effort on any relationship, it should be with your parents and your immediate family members. I've said it before, and I'll say this again. There comes a point in your life, when you realize that your parents are just people like you. They make mistakes, they do what they have to do, they're not always perfect and they don't always have the answers. Even if you think they've wronged you in lots of ways, I hope that someday you can forgive them. As you will soon find out yourself as a parent, the need for your children to understand you. We all do the best we can, with what we have. Don't harbor feelings of anger and sadness. Change what you can, while you still have time to change it. Our days are out numbered. Life is a strange thing. You come into life, live it and die. Then what? I hope that all of us can look back after we have passed (where ever we go, if it's anywhere?) and feel like we led a fulfilled life. 

Don't choose to miss out on having people in your life, simply because they've hurt you. "Your childhood is something you'll spend the rest of your life trying to get over". It is totally true. This past year has made me realized a lot of things about other people, but mostly myself. The way that I care for my family, and my parents are changing. One day the roles will be reversed, but I don't want to wait until that day to change my relationships while I still have time to. I try to be a good daughter, sister, cousin, auntie, friend. And this is a life changing habit I fully intend to keep up with.