Personal Narrative-Linked By Blood

Linked by Blood
Sala, sala, sala, my silver anklets chime as I swish and twirl in the mirror, admiring the skirt of my dabang. I was looking forward to showing the dark blue, flowing dress off at my grandparents’ annual family Ramadan feast. The dress glides as I saunter to the balcony of my room. The pale pink sky was slowly transitioning into a light blue as the sun rose farther into the sky, like an unsatisfied painter painting over his strokes. I breathe in the sweet smell of ripe bananas and flowering roses wafting from our large garden below. Although I usually spend my summers in India, I always wonder at how everything here felt more familiar than home. A large commotion behind me interrupts the serenity of the world in front of me. …show more content…
In my culture, family comes before everything. I never understood the power of family. That night, any problems any of us had with each other dissolved. In the end, we are grateful for having that many people in your life, ready to take a bullet for you, without a second thought. I now understand, why the feeling of admitting that your mother’s choice was better than your own, is not a horrid one, why we claim to suffer through family reunions, claim to hate everyone there, but secretly enjoy their company, and why my heart ignored my prejudices against family members and opened itself up to their love, choosing to reply with the same. It is an aspect of my culture that I have struggled with but now appreciate the most. The power of family and the love that courses through it is a force to be reckoned with. As alien as some traditions of certain family members can be, are we not all immediately at home with their actions and words? The world is a vast playground with more foes than friends, and only few that are family. However, it is the few on the playground that are family, that are there to place a band-aid on your knee when you fall, and there to confront the many bullies that rule the playground. My family is the anchor in my life and forever will be, because family is forever. Nothing can break the bond of the same blood coursing through different