My Testimony

My family was a big part of my life growing up. My dad’s family was really Christian and they always talked about it. My mom’s family wasn’t. I grew up close to my cousins and aunts and uncles, but a few times some of my dad’s siblings fought with him so I didn’t see them for a while.

One time this happened when I was a kid and they fought over who was bringing my grandparents to the Christmas Eve party. My aunt didn’t pick them up so my dad got mad at her and my other aunt. They stayed in a room for the party on the computer and said nobody was allowed to go in the room or talk to them. They were also oppressed and I felt bad for them but I also thought my dad’s side was right. After that we didn’t see those aunts or my cousins who were their kids for a year.

After a year we talked again and they invited me over. My dad said no at first but I really wanted to go. He let me after I kept asking so I went over and then we started talking again and were close again. A few more years later, they got in another fight. My mom told me one day that they were mad at my dad so they weren’t going to see us anymore. It always seemed like they were mad because we had more money in the family so they started a fight. I was sad that we were never going to see them again. That happened in the summer before I went to eighth grade.

Eighth and ninth grade were when I wrote depressing stuff in a journal. Then, in tenth grade something happened to my aunt that we didn’t talk to. She was in the hospital and could die. Many people in my dad’s family died before. One aunt did before I was born, and one when I was a baby. My uncle died when I was in third grade. My grandpa died in fifth. Now this aunt was in the hospital and they made a mistake on her. My mom told us my dad was sad even though we hadn’t talked to her in years. We drove him to the hospital and then we went the next day.

We were wondering what we would do because we hadn’t seen my other aunt or cousins in two years either but when we got there we talked. We ended up laughing with my cousins even though it was sad and then we got close again. My aunt didn’t die and she got better. My mom told me she had a near death experience but she wouldn’t talk about it. I heard something in my head about her. That God said that she wouldn’t go to heaven unless she stopped fighting with her family. She seemed like she was trying to stop and was nice. We became really close to our cousins and were always laughing and going to each other’s houses. I was less depressed and hung out with my cousins and friends more.

A little while after my aunt got better my other aunt was diagnosed with cancer. She was my closest aunt and my closest cousin’s mom. She was also my Godmother and like my second mom. She was close to us when my other aunts didn’t talk to us. She never stopped talking to us. My closest cousin was in college but soon her mom had to live with us and she did when she was home from college. We liked it and called each other sisters. Everyone was sad too including our other cousins and family members.

We were always together with our cousins and tried to have fun and be positive. Eventually we found out she was going to die. I never expected her to die that soon. At first she would walk around and play Christian music on Saturdays but then she had to stay in her bed. We went into her room to talk everyday and sang a song to her together. We thought more about going to heaven and talked about it.

When she died it was sad for everyone since she seemed like the person who was close to everyone in the family and didn’t fight. But then the family fought again. They were mad at her daughter. Some of my aunts said she didn’t pick up when they called her and she wasn’t home enough for her mom. I thought she was and was just busy with college and work. My cousins said she partied too much and wasn’t Christian. One of my aunts said she wouldn’t talk to her because she dormed in college and that was against God. So they wouldn’t talk to her or would be mean. I felt bad for her since her mom died and I thought she could do that stuff so I fought with my cousins. I said I was close to her, my closest cousin, and they were mad.

They started leaving me out until one day I was mad so we started fighting on twitter. Then, they blocked me and my sisters and we stopped talking. My cousin messaged me after a few months to talk about it and we did but it didn’t work out. During senior year I didn’t talk to them and then I went to college. My grandma died in the beginning of college and after that my aunt fought with my dad again. She told everyone in the family to stop talking to him and only one still did. The rest got in fights with him.

Part 4 will come soon.