Seat 19 J

I am one. I am just one person. I am the student who has to start writing the paper the night it is assigned and take the online quiz the moment it’s open. I am the sister who is the 1^st to come to my brother’s defense because ONLY I have earned the right to make his life hell, no one else. I am the daughter that has promised to clean my room and help with chores but the sink is still full with dirty dishes and my bed hasn’t been made in years. 

I am the granddaughter who calls and the instant my Grandmas don’t answer I think the worst, so I call and call, until finally they answer, I am in a panic, and they go on about their new anti-swelling cream they just picked up for their ankles and how they accidentally swallowed their pets pills again. I am the friend that falls asleep at 9 o'clock on the couch in the living room and drools all over your nice throw pillows.

 I am the nanny that loves the kids I watch as if they were my own, sometimes ice cream for dinner is a must to get them to behave but nonetheless I wouldn’t trade them for the world. I am the co-worker that takes the last cookie on pitch-in day and denies it as I brush the oatmeal crumbs off my blouse. 

 I am all of these things but not confined by these parameters. I am adding a new definition to who Kelsey Steuer is. I am embarking the journey of a life time and am so grateful for every person who has made this possible. I am so blessed to have such an incredible support system. When I meet new people and they ask about my family it shouldn’t be as complicated as I make it. Many would just say I have a Mom, a younger brother Sam, and two grandmas who I love dearly.

 My actual answer is “Well I have my immediate family: mom, brother, two grandmas (one on each side of the family, they aren’t married or a couple like one of my brothers friends asked).Then we have family in Minnesota (who really isn’t technically our family, they’re our neighbors family but now were all one big family unit), then we have The Neighborhood, we all are just one big family…” After a few minutes of processing my ramblings and their eyeballs pop back into their head, “WOW!” is usually the standard response. 

But just saying I have a mom, brother, and grandmas doesn’t do my life story justice. I have been raised by a village. I have countless people cheering me and encouraging me along the way while also keeping me in check and holding me accountable. This is something I am more than blessed to have. I am a firm believer that every person that I have met and who has been involved in my life is there for a reason.  

Through all these incredible people, I have been taught how to love unconditionally, how to forgive, and how to express gratitude. I have been show that there are still good people in the world. If it was not for my ENTIRE “family” I would not be who I am today. 

I by no mean have had a terrible life, I have run into a few hiccups and bends in the road along the way but was taught from a young age to push forward and hold my head high while at the same time,  reminded that it is more than okay to pull over and cry whenever needed. 

If I can show just one child this unconditional love that I have been so freely given, put a smile on an innocent toddlers face, put food in a hungry baby’s belly, or just show them that there are people who care about them then I couldn’t ask for more. Sometimes all it takes is a simple smile across the room to change someone’s day, a compliment instead of criticism, or just a hug.  Just knowing that someone cares is INCREDIBLY powerful. 

Life has an amazing way of working out. I could have never even dreamed it would be better than I had it planned (obviously I don’t control The Plan). The most important thing I have learned is that as much as I dislike it, the fact is, the ONLY human I can control is myself. Trust me I wouldn’t be human if I didn’t regularly forget this or mistakenly convince myself that this fact has change but when I remind myself that only I hold the power to let others bring be down or uplift me, life becomes a little easier.

I choose to be thankful for both the good and bad that I have experienced in my whopping 21 years of existence. If it weren’t for the bad, what would define the good? I may  come across as a  Miss Goody-Two-Shoe for thinking this way but this is how I survive. I don’t want to look back on my life and regret  missed opportunities because I was not able to be a big enough person to move forward.  

So as I sit here in Seat J19, about 14 hours into my travels, I finally realized this journey and adventure started long before I got on this plane. Life is a journey. Every pitfall and peak of my life has shaped who I am. I may not know what profession or title I want on my business card. But I am found my purpose in life.