Being Mature

This past weekend I went on a family trip to Medford to go visit my dad's family down their. Now there were 9 of us all heading down there thank goodness we had two cars! So it was Me, My Mom, My Dad, Sister, Nick  (my sister's husband), and their three boys named North, Anchor and Harbor. Growing Up my family usually went down their around Christmas time and for some reason too me it always felt like such a chore I think it was because there was so many aspects of the trip that stressed me out and made me feel uncomfortable but this trip was different in the best ways which is why I saw myself being a matured adult instead of a whinny kid. The first thing I noticed I was doing was putting others first before thinking about myself. As a kid I would always ask my mom why we have to go and she said time and time again that it was important for my dad to see his family and now I understand it because it's so true because both of my mother's parents are now gone and my dad's father is also gone so that just leaves my dad's mother and his sisters so time is very limited and we never know how much time we have left with the people we love have left no matter how healthy they are. Another thing I thought about was don't make your problems everyone else's. As far back as I can remember I have always had sleeping issues so that made going on trips very rough because personally I have a certain routine that I do. For example, The Room has to be cold so that involves having a fan blowing on me (also for the noise), Some kind of light on just so that if I have to get up in the middle of night, and lastly fuzzy blankets. To have the same atmosphere in a hotel room is a little work but I achieved it by bringing my own fuzzy blanket and leaving on the bathroom light but had the door cracked up just a little then my having this new sleeping app I got which is a bunch of Nature Sounds it's called Rain Rain it's really awesome so if you have a hard time sleeping you must check it out! One of the bigger parts of me realizing this new level of matureness was I attempted to face one of my biggest fears which is dogs. Both my grandma and aunt have them and it always stresses me out to go into a house with dogs because for me it's a lose of control because pets have a mind of their own and do whatever they want but whenever I had to go into one of their homes I just tried my best to stay calm and not focusing on it. Which ended up bringing me to my next point which was to just let myself have a little fun. The main reason why we went down their was for my cousin daughters birthday party and it was a proper blast! Their had this huge bounce house with three different little pools that the kids could play in. I won't lie the adults had their fun playing in it as well ;-) Honestly this trip made me feel like my attitude has totally changed and now I think like a adult and not just a teenager in that I have finally matured into being an adult. This trip will be one I always remember :) -  Taylor