For the Family

I went home the first weekend in February for a wedding. My cousin, the one person that's been a part of my life ever since me and my brother were young. We were always with each other as kids, visited each others houses, slept over all the time, we were always in the back yard messing around trying to make up some kind of game. Anytime we couldn't go over an visit, yeah, like all the others kids we were upset. It was a great childhood, we have some good memories that we can't ever forget. After High School, my cousin decided to join the Military, it was pretty rough for me and my brother, we really didn't know what to think, say. We didn't know where he would end up, how he would come out, for better or for worse. So it was all just a big mystery for pretty much the whole family. Some years later after being stationed in Germany and then being sent out to Afghanistan, he told me he was getting married. I was happy for him, except at the same time I became disappointed and selfish. It was a gift from God as I saw it, and it helped me learn and listen that a lot of times the situation isn't about me. I think so many times we wonder from any situation, "what will I get out of this?" or sometimes "What about me?" and I found myself asking myself these questions in a selfish mood. I prayed that I grow selfless and be happy for the decision he had made.
Before then, the family hadn't really been getting along very well, everybody was off in their own little world it was just different as a family. During Christmas the family wasn't around, or Thanksgiving everybody was at their own houses the community that we had before we just missing, and it didn't feel like family at all. During the wedding, It was an awkward vibe between members of the family, almost like if we didn't know each other anymore. In my reflection, I think it was the best thing that could happen, it was great for the family to get back together at least for one thing, a wedding, which ironically creates a family by uniting two people into one flesh. As the night went on, there was less tension and everybody seemed to have a great time on the dance floor. It was a great wedding, one that I think was for the sake of the family.