Other things may change us, but we start and end with family.

-Anthony Brandt

From the moment we are born, we are connected to our family in a way that we are connected to no one else in the entire world. Just as we inherit our eye and hair color from our families, we also inherit unconscious emotional patterns and tendencies…the strongest of which is love.

Love makes a family. The things that children remember most when they grow up is how much love surrounded them and how much time we spent with them. Children watch everything we do and inevitably mimic us in most every fashion. A child catches a love of learning from parents who continue to learn and, in turn, teach their children to do the very same.

Every person in a family plays a certain role. Generally speaking, the woman brings life, the father brings strength and everyone brings love. That does not mean friction does not exist in some shape or form in every family. Some amount of friction in a familial relationship is an opportunity to realize the differences that exist between us and accept that although we can never fully understand each other, nonetheless we accept and love each other.

Make the most of your family and show them all the love and respect that they deserve. Your family is the reason you have become the person that you are today. Without family there is no love and without love there can be no family.