The Deadweight of the Family
Somehow, someway being an inconvenience was a specialty that I excelled at as a child. It was never my intent to hinder someone’s work or cause stress but simply to help and ease the strain of their labors. It seemed that I could never avoid being the cause of a problem. Instead of aiding in the solution I was always aburden to my close family and friends at school. And trying not to hurt my feelings they never told me I was in the way, so it took me some time to realize when to help and when to stay out. Of the many times I could recall being a burden “or major pain” as my mom would saywas when I thought I was being responsible. My sister always teased me by saying “Truly being a burden is not being a hindrance and not causing a massive workload to anyone.” My dad tried to cheer me up by saying “An individual becomes a burden when they slow a person’s ability to work efficiently, causing great inconvenience, anger and stress.” It didn’t matter to me because I knew deep down inside I was always the aggravation of the household.
For example when I was six years old and was told to do a simple task such as getting the mail. My mom was expecting a very important letter from her grandmother; it was an engraved gold locket. The day was cool and the wind was gusting like a hurricane coming in from the south. So quickly I dashed to the mailbox which was maybe 30 steps always but the wind had slowed me down, greatly. Finally when I reached the mailbox I gripped the post with one hand and opened the door with the other. Suddenly when I opened the mailbox all of the mail shot out and was blown all over the street. Mail was everywhere, some flew over the trees, a few glided down the street, a couple skidded across the sidewalk into the neighbor’s yard and the rest blew down the wet road. Stunned, I simply stood there with my jaw dropped, as the mail landed into puddles. Only a few letters managed to avoid getting wet.The locket wasn’t lost but everything else was missing or damaged, like my sister’s college acceptance letter, my dad’s bills and my report card as well. Sure my dad and sister we mad and yes they did yell but in the end we retrieved most of the blown away mail and life resumed as normal.
I was always adding weight to the problem and never a solution. What a constant annoyance and aggravation I must have been. Eventually they dubbed me the name “trouble”, for lack of a better word. Roughly about a week later my dad told us that we were going to get our pictures taken after he got off work. I wasn’t in the mood for taking pictures and didn’t give it a second thought. Determined to prove myself useful I teamed up with my best friend Morgan from high school who wanted to help me in my situation. She had once been in my shoesand knew exactly how I was feeling and wanted to do everything she could possible to help.She constantly reminded me of her favorite quote: “Hope is like the sun, which, as we journey toward it, casts the shadow of our burden behind us” Morgan always used quotes to reassure and comfort her closest friends.
Therefore as soon as school got out we headed over to the pool house and sat around the pool with our feet in the water, trying to come up with an ideal to help my image. It was a gorgeous day and the sky was royal blue with a few puffy white clouds slowly drifting by, making great shade. The breeze that blew was calm, cool and relaxing. For this reason we lost focus of the task at hand and laid back for a quick nap. Meanwhile my dad was just arriving home from work and was expecting everyone to be dressed and ready. My mom and sister were dressed but I was fast asleep. Just as I was beginning to dream a violent scream startled me. Quickly I shot up to see what the matter was, and then in an instance I realized it was Morgan who was screaming. During our quick nap we forgot to apply bug spray to our skin and were covered in bug bites from head to toe. Morgan was scratching her skin so vigorously that a few of the bigger bug bites on her arm began to bleed and white puss was coming out followed by a foul odor that smelled like rotten moldy meat. Grossed out I started screaming and decided not to touch mines at all. Laughing from across the pool the lifeguard on duty gave us some calming lotion to clean our bug bites and stop us from starching them open.
All of the kids were laughing at us and even some adults too. But I didn’t care, quickly Morgan and I walked home. “Yuck!” “I can’t believe I let this happen to my skin!” Morgan shouted. And as soon as she said that I remembered where I was supposed to be. “Crap!” “I got to go” I replied. Morgan still focused on her skin, didn’t even look up and I was already half way home. As a consequence of not only being late but covered in bug bites I was grounded for two weeks and still forced to take pictures, looking like a greased up alligator. I couldn’t stand being around my family, it felt like they always hated me and wanted me gone. Looking back on it now I realize that I just made a lot of mistakes as a kid, but then I felt like the deadweight of the family.
Finally I had come to realize that being a burden is sometimes unavoidable but it’s also a part of growing up. Nowadays I play a significant role in helping my family with day to day tasks, such as driving to the store to complete a few errands for my mom. I help my dad with fixing the car and my sister with homework. No more needing constant attention or relying heavily on another person to look after me. I now know how to properly help without being a burden. In the past they called me “trouble” because of my many errors and now they call me “little Miss helpful” for I’m always there to give a lending hand. “Any concern too small to be turned into a prayer is too small to be made into a burden.” -Corrie Ten BoomWhen I discovered thisquote at first I didn’t understand it but now looking back on it all I have come to realize that we are given problems to not only to test us but to make a mature, wiser, successful and inspiring person who knows burdens are simple unnecessary worries.
Works cited
Boom, Corrie Ten."~Religious Quotes~ | Religious Quotes Blog."Religious Quotes. 14 Aug. 2008. Web. 10 Mar. 2011. <