A Trip to the Other Side, Essay Example

It is hard being the firstborn in a large family, and I mean this with the most respect for my siblings and parents when I say it can take a toll on the person I am as an individual. We live on a remote island in Hawaii; our home is in the middle of a jungle; running into a snake is almost as routine as waving at my neighbor while he buries a dead raccoon. While my exposure to other parts of the United States has not been great, I understand from different family structures around me that being a big family has implications on how we decide to do things all the logistics of moving around. Take, for instance, I just graduated, and my parents thought it would be a good idea for all of us; all nine of us visit the other side of the island, which has a resort, and have a brief taste of the supposed American Dream. On the day we are supposed to leave, my sister Cindy does not know where her backpack is; my brother Miles is still objective and does not want to go on the family trip, and it’s a mess as always. The journey to the shore is nothing short of dramatic scenes. First, Carter got scratched by a monkey because he threw a stone at it. My mother wanted to punish him, but my father thought she should let it go; they argued again and agitated Estella, the youngest family member. When Estella starts to cry, even the owls fly away, she shrieks, and the sounds are terrifying.  The triplets were constantly bickering over which one will get to sleep on the best mattress when we got there and were going on a sort of wager to guess how I feel. Let’s say, by the end of the two-day trip; I was glad that I wouldn’t be leaving at home much longer and that the future would hold something different for me.

I enjoy having a large family and take pride in each of my seven children, especially now that Tuty is on her way to becoming an adult. So I am happy and scared at the same time about how this will affect the dynamics of the family. Going to the other side of the island, which is a bit developed, is a significant exposure for our family. And for me, it feels like I can finally breathe away from the choking feeling I have had a lot recently.

“ If you keep up this behavior, I am going to take you back to the house, and you can stay there and think about yourself!!!” I yelled at Carter since I noticed that he kept fidgeting with everyone and anything, including the monkeys that we met along the way. As always, my husband does not take my side, but anyway, we make it to the boat on the shoreline in one piece, and I look forward to taking these two days off.

Contrary to my expectations for this trip, I did not get much of a chance to relax and engage with Tuty, and I was stuck handling arguments and tantrums as I always do back at home. The journey feels like a constant roller coaster other than a destination. I sometimes wonder how my life would have been if we had half the children I have, and almost immediately, the triplets fall into the pool, and they cannot swim; maybe it would not be so bad if they drowned.

I laughed for close to 3 minutes straight when I noticed everyone was looking at me, which was awkward considering that they all never seem to see me. I am used to disappearing in the background, and I don’t understand what I am doing on this trek to the resort. But mum makes the rules, and I have to deal with my family even worse so now in public. It was slightly funny to see a child’s bleeding from the scratch on his face, and later on, I enjoyed Cindy’s frantic efforts to showcase her swimming skills, salvaging the triplets from the shallow end of the pool. Perhaps that’s why they were staring because they did not understand if I enjoyed the trip or even comprehend that I could laugh since it was unlikely that I was always silent. The cinematic scene is over, and now I desire to disappear into the alternate universe where I existed alone and was a hero saving people from the noise that other people made around them. Maybe I should hide out in this hotel and have them look for me for a while; perhaps they will forget me, and maybe I will finally be free of the drama of the Finches. It is such a reputation that we carry along with us, and I can see it in the eyes of the tourists who look at us like we are a breed of uncultured human beings. Perhaps I should join my family because at least we can all look crazy together.