Laws of Life

Each year Matthew has done a Laws of Life Essay for a writing competition. You are required to write an essay based on a quote and each year he has been in the finals. I thought the family might be interested in his essay for this year.

"Families are like fudge-mostly sweet with a few nuts."

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All families have "that one". You know, the one that sits in a chair and breaks it, sets his hand on fire while preparing fondue, makes a fake hunting video with a BB gun, and piles the family in an RV for a road trip across the country. Except that in my family, it's different. In my family a different person has done each of those things. Due to my dad being over confident in his fondue lighting skills, the chair my uncle was in snapped under the weight of childish laughter. Somewhere in our house lies a video entitled "Opossum Hunting" starring Aaron Bivins, Josh Bivins and myself; testing out a Wal-Mart BB gun by shooting at darkness while pretending we were waiting for a "ten point buck possum" to cross our path. And all of us were partially responsible for coming up with the idea of loading into an RV for a trip to the Grand Canyon, which made us all somewhat responsible for the mounts of memories made out west.

We all have sweetness in us as well but in different ways. For instance, my older cousins find it "sweet" to pinch my cheeks and yell "Baby Cousin" at the top of their lungs upon seeing me. Really? I thought we were past that. My mom finds it sweet that I still give her "reals hugs" in front of my friends at age seventeen. My brothers, Aaron and Josh, who once found it sweet to bomb my cousin's Barbie village, now find it sweet to check stocks and talk about investing. My dad finds it sweet to check the obituaries every day and not find his name listed. And I- I find it sweet that we somehow haven't killed each other yet.

If you haven't noticed thus far, my family is a tad-bit different. We find the sweetness of the fudge inside the nuttiness. We look past little things. If one of us were stuck on a question on "Cash Cab", we would definitely go for the street shout out option. We aren't afraid to make our presence known. We have been known to start a ruckus or two with a chant like, "g-double o-d-j-o-b, good job! Good job!" We can turn the most serious occasion into a comedy club, or the most disorganized event into a well-oiled machine. Even in my immediate household of three, we can make a pretty big batch of fudge.

The best thing is a family doesn't have to be confined to the people you see on December 25th. I have a family that reunites every fall for a little over three months- the Central High School Cross Country team. Together we are the biggest fudge square you have ever seen, and I hope you're not allergic to nuts. What makes this fudge so special is how we all come together. Sometimes we are looked upon as the guys that are not big enough or fast enough to play football and only about half of us try. The other half are there for the girls or to "get in shape". But, no one looks at that. We're all one big family; a family that can love each other one second and annoy the life out of each other the next. We all pick on each other, usually myself the most, but it's all out of love and out of sweetness. We are all crazy nuts; put all of us next to a group of fourth graders and you wouldn't know the difference. However, that's what makes us special. That's what makes the Central Cross Country team the greatest helping of fudge ever.

My family doesn't own the nicest cars or the biggest house. I don't go to a private school, and out of state tuition looks like a mountain of money, but I would never ask the baker to give me different fudge. I hate eating nuts, but I love living with them. I love to run with them, and deep down I know the next four years won't be the same without all of them. I love my fudge.

The picture was taken at Senior night for Cross Country. I just wanted every one to know what "Baby Cousin" thought of his family.