Boy oh boy... where do I start...
I'll start with the people who have shaped me into the young woman I am today, my parents. Growing up, I have always had a good relationship with my mom. She is pretty much my best friend because she has to listen to me all the time. For example, night time is my time to get all my thoughts out for the day and my mom just so happens to have the closest ear to me. She knows literally EVERYTHING about me and I wouldn't have it any other way. She knows what I have been through, what I am currently going through, and what I will go through, and has so much knowledge and patience to give me as a I grow into a woman and try to fill the shoes that her, my dad, and God have prepared for me. She was a teacher, which is most of the reason why I have decided to teach, but now she is a stay at home mom while my dad works and my brothers are all over the place. My dad is an Aerospace Engineer, so if he tells me what he is working on, he'll have to kill me... My dad and I struggled throughout my teen years to find that steady father/daughter relationship. Don't get me wrong, we have a great relationship now, but it wasn't always that great. It felt like he only cared about my grades and what I was doing to better my future, when what I really needed was someone to just help me figure out my teen years, especially from a guys point of view. So much changed my junior year of college when my dad actually told me that he was proud of me and then proceeded to ask about my well-being. Now, he is someone I look up to to survive my adult years as well as someone whose opinion is crucial in my life. I cannot explain the life that my parents have provided for me and the gratefulness that I have because of it.
Now that you know a bit about my parents and my relationship with them, I'd like you to meet the two men that have grown along side me and have helped me through some incredibly rough times.
My older and wiser (so he thinks) brother has become one of my best friends. If you have ever met Garrick, then you know how hilarious, genuine, and hardworking he really is. I have never met someone that can match my humor level almost perfectly. Garrick is in fact, the funniest person I know and probably will ever know. Although, I didn't realize this until I was out of my teens and stopped thinking of him has the annoying older brother who never thought of me as an equal. Now, we relate on so many different levels because typically, the oldest and the middle child come in second compared to the baby of the family. We have grown together and have shared our struggles with each other, which have made us such a strong brother/sister power team. We have had our ups and downs for sure, but trying to change him would be a disgrace to everybody else. One of my favorite memories with Garrick would be when I was a freshman in high school and he was a senior and I was worried about my teacher thinking that I cheated when I didn't so I ran up to Garrick and told him and he just let me cry in his arms. He told me that everything will be okay and I feel like at that moment, I knew that he would protect me no matter what.
Last, but definitely not least, is my baby brother. Yes, he is way bigger than me and yes, he is THE Hagen Danner. If I wasn't growing up in the shadows of my older brother, I was in the shadows of my younger brother. I struggled for years with that concept, but now I know that I wouldn't want to be anywhere else. I am so proud of the person that Hagen has become because I know how difficult it can be in the lime light. Of course I am jealous of the fact that he doesn't have to go to school and that he gets to be a professional baseball player, but I realized that is who God made him to be. Knowing me, I probably couldn't handle the pressure of it all, but he is doing so incredibly well. I love being his big sister and giving him advise on girls (when he lets me), but most of all, I love getting the chance to see Hagen as a brother, a son, and a best friend, other than what outsiders see him as. He has struggled in similar ways as I have, but continues to put a smile on his face and prove to everyone that he is different and that he CAN and WILL change the face of baseball for the better with his caring, generous, and uplifting spirit.
Being the middle child, I have had to hold this family together at times, but also witness them holding me together. Ever since I was young I wanted to have a sister and now that I am older, I realize that I am so damn lucky to have two brothers and especially lucky to have Garrick and Hagen as my brothers. My love for each person in my family grows beyond the words I have written.
Let me know what questions you have and what you want me to write about next!
Much love,
Just Annalie
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