FOOP

Brief Family Background:

For this assignment I have chosen to use my paternal side of the family, because this is the side of the family that I interact and see the most. My parents are Tommy and Rose Williams. My father, Tommy Lee Williams, is the son of Lee Edward Williams. My paternal family is very close-knit. My grandfathers siblings, traveled from Fort Wayne, Indiana, to visit him several times a year while he was living, and my father’s siblings spend time with one another almost every weekend. Yes, this may sound like a great thing, but this often causes a lot of family conflict once different personalities start to mesh.

My dad and his sibling all have strong personalities; everyone thinks they are always right and you cannot tell them anything without a debate. Of my father’s 7 siblings, by dad is the over-talker and most opinionated, meaning nine times out of ten, everyone will likely have a disagreement with him. Looking back, my paternal grandfather was the complete opposite. My grandfather was not much opinionated and minded his own business, rarely conversating with anyone besides his family. My paternal family is big on family support, but maybe that is because they grew up in a big family and it was always enough support to go around. Whenever someone is graduating or anything like that, my family will rent vans and travel to support that family member. They also make sure that they take at least two family vacations per year.

Although this close-knit family has it’s perks, it also has it’s down falls. Too much of anything is not good as they say and it tends to cause a lot of family conflict when you see family members too often. Again, when personalities blend, it can cause a lot of chaos and confusion. In just a blink of the eye, a nice family gathering on the weekend can turn into bickering about the simplest things, like who checks on their mother the most or who was the last person to take her to the store. Watching their actions, made me focus more on the family I created, rather than the family I came from. I love spending time with my parents and siblings, but I can truly do without the aunts, uncles, and some of the cousins. Not that I do not love them, but it seems to be added stress trying to adapt to everyone and their feelings. My father’s mom, Viola Williams, seems to be more like how I am today, she too came from a big family with twelve siblings. She loves her family, but she would much rather spend time with her children and grandchildren.

Thanks to my family, I wanted to start a family of my own. My husband and I have two sons, DJ and D3. My dad calls me almost every weekend to come down to Marion, Alabama to visit him and my mom, but often times, we are busy at baseball tournaments with our youngest son. My husband and I truly value our family and spending time with them. I have three siblings, Tommy Jr., Oleevia, and Ronesha. Ronesha is our oldest sister that passed away at the age of 37 due to an asthma attack. Losing her really brough my siblings and I together, but it also drew me away from other family members because now my only concern is my siblings and their children. Maybe this is a part of grieve that I am dealing with, or maybe this is because I grew up being around all of my family all the time and I am just tired of everyone who is not in my immediate family.