Something I Wish Americans Prioritized More

I’ve been in Mexico for 3 days now, and I’ve been completely surrounded by my friend’s family. Her cousin picked me up from the airport, her mother took us out for lunch and to see a nearby town yesterday, and her brother and cousins took us out for drinks last night.

The first time I went to Germany, I was 16. I went as an exchange student and stayed in a girls house that I had hosted a few months before. Every single morning, we all ate breakfast as a family and every night we ate dinner together. 

When I was in Bali I got to live in a small village. All the women made offerings together in the morning, and all the families worshiped at the temple together daily. When you become an adult in Bali, the woman will live with her husbands family. Families live together their whole life. 

My family spent more time together when I was a kid, but now my family eats dinner together only a couple of times a month. Everyone is always so busy with school, work, or hobbies that we barely spend time together. Myself included, I work all the time so I've never home in time for dinner. 

My cousin is a year and a half, and I babysit her a couple times a month. I hope to stay close to her during her whole life, not only when she's young. I want to be there for her when she has problems in school, when she's a teenager, and help her transition into adulthood. I want to keep a strong relationship with her, not matter how busy we are or if we live far apart. 

I wish in the USA, family came before anything else like it does in so many other cultures. There’s so much value in spending time with people, especially those who have known you since you were born.