Mitchell Dohle
Mr. Jennings
AP English, 3rd hour
December 4, 2013
The Dohle Family in a Nut Shell
The Dohle family is a simple, yet unique, crazy family to say the least. To give you a better understanding of my family remember the first time you rode a “big boy” or “big girl” roller coaster? You were so anxious and excited on what the outcome would be; but instead of showing that nervousness you showed joy, happiness, and laughter. That is how my family is. Once a year we have a big family reunion and personally I am always anxious because I can’t wait to see what new memoires will occur. My family has gone through some tough stretches recently with the passing of several family members but after we remember them and thank them for everything they have given us, we remember to focus on the new generations in the family.
I come from a family of four: my dad, mom, brother, and I. My dad’s name is Gary. He is a hardworking man who comes from a hardworking family. Gary works at Anheuser Busch and does everything he can to make sure our family is ok. Sometimes I don’t see him much because of his work schedule but whenever I do see him he always asks: how my day was, how was school, and that he is proud of me. My greatest memory with my dad is whenever I was little and I would be playing ball with him in my backyard and no matter what we were doing he would always find the time to play with me. One time I challenged him to race, I will never forget how mad he got that I beat him by a lot and my mom was just sitting there laughing at us.My dad’s mom passed away whenever I was 5 years old, so I don’t have a lot of memories of her but everyone said she was an amazing woman who loved everyone. She was my first grand-parent to pass away so in hockey I wear the number 35 or 8 because I was 5 and my brother was 3 when she passed away so I thought it would be cool to remember her that way. My dad’s dad was a soldier in the Korean War and was a big role model to me; I am actually named after him. He passed away when I was 13, but I will never forget how excited I would be whenever I would go visit him. His favorite and best quote was, “It doesn’t take too much to say hi.” I didn’t realize how meaningful that quote was until I was a little older.
Gary has 2 older brothers, my uncles, and they are surprisingly full of laughter and joy. Uncle Mike, who is my god-father, is the oldest of three brothers. He is a father of four children, my cousins, and we do all kinds of vacations and activities with them. Every once in a while my family and their family would go down to the Lake of the Ozarks for a week vacation. I will never forget the time when I first started fishing. I was awesome at catching the fish, but whenever it came time to take the fish off the hook I would be scared out of my mind. So one afternoon I was on the dock with everyone just fishing and having fun, and eventually I caught a small blue gill fish. My aunt came over and took it off the hook and was holding it in front of me insisting I hold the fish. By this time everyone was around me seeing if I would final hold a fish. So I final decided to go for it, and once I was about to pinch my fingers the fish wiggled out of my aunts grasp and started flopping on my chest! I was terrified. Everyone started laughing but I just ran straight to my mom crying asking, “Why Aunt Debbie would do that?” Even my mom was laughing.
My mom, well, she is a pretty cool mom. Her name is Mindy and she is a stay at home mom, but don’t let that saying fool you. She is the boss of the house. If you want something or need something you got to get past her. She is always there to help me or my brother with homework, takes us to places in which we need to go, solves all of our technology problems, and makes sure we are in a good mood. She is the youngest of two older sisters and one older brother. Her family is a quiet family, they all are independent people but we find a way to meet up and have fun family times. The oldest, my Aunt Cindy, has a son named Jeffery. He is married and is about to have his 3rd child. He is in the army, he went to Afghanistan for 2 years helping kids get there education; he is another role model of mine. I have been called Jeff many times by my family because I look exactly like him. I may not see him much but whenever I do see him I am always talking to him about everything.
Every year we have a Triple Crown party on my mom’s side of the family. The Triple Crown is a series of three horse races, the Preakness, the Kentucky Derby, and the Belmont. If you want to have a good, long laugh then you should stop by whatever bar and grill we are throwing the party at; it is quite comical. The most comical race out of the three is the Kentucky Derby. Both of my Aunts wear crazy goofy hats to celebrate the race and drink “mint julips” which are the official drink of the Derby. And if you think that is nutty, when I was 1 year old, my Aunt Cheryl designed me my own set of silks, which is a jockey uniform. They also made my bassinet look like a horse!
Lastly my younger brother, his name is Matthew and he is quite the opposite of me. He has blonde hair I have brown hair.He is chubby I am more muscular. I’m athletic him not so athletic.He likes to stay at home in his comfort zone while I like going out and doing different things with friends, family, and sports. It took me awhile to accept that Matt was not going to be exactly like me. Before I would always get mad and frustrated that he wouldn’t want to go outside and play catch or kick the soccer ball around. But now I am more mature and I try to show interest in the things that he likes. I might not like some of the stuff but as his older brother I got to take care of the little booger, make sure everything is alright, and give him some of my wisdom so he doesn’t make the same mistakes like I have done.
Over the years, I have been thankful to have gone on a lot of vacations with my family. We have been to Florida, Mexico, the Bahamas, New Orleans, Orlando, and more! But when Matt and I were little all we did was watch SpongeBob. That cartoon show on Nickelodeon was the center of our universe. Whenever my family and I would stay overnight at a hotel, SpongeBob was always on the television. And the nutty part was the when we all lay down to finally go to sleep; Matt and I would just quote SpongeBob. We couldn’t stop because we were laughing so hard the entire hotel probably heard us. Sooner or later my parents started saying their personal favorite quotes and then they were laughing.
Now every year, once a year, we have a family reunion on my dad’s side called the Dohle picnic. The number of my cousins and second cousins that I have just keeps going on and on every year. So it is interesting to see what happens on the day of the picnic. The day usually starts off with morning mass. Most of my cousins are catholic so it’s nice to give thanks for everything that is given to us. After the mass we go to the location in which the picnic will be taking place at. It’s either a park or at a school ground. We first start with greeting everyone. Saying hi and catching up with cousins and family members who we haven’t seen in a while. Then we go straight to the field to play soccer, wiffle-ball, and football. We have a famous egg toss and washer tournament in which you are paired up with a random family member and try to win! Then we have a wonderful family dinner which consists of corn on the cob, burgers, pasta, and a whole bunch of fruit. Now we also have party games and party themes. A new generation is in charge of the figuring out the games and themes. Like this year it’s the nephews, next year will be the wives. And it is for everyone but mostly for the family members who aren’t athletic or the older generation of the family. So the point I am trying to make about my family is that even though we don’t all see each other every day, the Dohle picnic helps us stay close as a family andlook forward to a fun time as well.
So despite the craziness and nuttiness, I love my family. To the ones I see every day and to the ones I see once a year. Over the years, I have noticed how lucky I am to have a family who hasn’t grown apart and who is willing to take the time to stay within a family. I am more than excited to continue the Dohle tradition and always be a family member through the good times and the bad times.