GPS to tech guru - my job in my family
Prompt: What is your role in your family?
Everyone has their role in a family, and many of those roles seem very natural. Every person is good at somethings and every person is bad at other things. For example, I am a terrible cook. If I try to cook a meal, I will inevitably use the wrong amount of water, somehow break a plate, undercook the meat, and somehow by the end my mom is back in the kitchen trying to save my house from burning down. Instead, I stick with my job in the family and everyone else sticks to theirs.
I am our family’s designated GPS if go somewhere. If we are in Europe, the middle of the woods or even if we’re in IKEA (don’t ever underestimate how confusing IKEA is), I am always supposed to know where to go or know how to get back to where we started. My dad has a terrible sense of direction. His sense of direction is so bad that he somehow always wants to go the opposite way. If we have to turn left he will 100% want to turn right, which makes no sense because theoretically even if he guesses, he should have a 50%. I keep telling him to always go against his gut but never listens. I am pretty sure without me my family would never make their way back from anywhere.
When we were in Italy, the first city that we visited was Venice. Now I don’t know if the Venice city planner was a 3-year-old, had too much to drink, or was just trying to play a cruel joke, but if you look at the map of Venice, it looks like a maze of little streets, allies, and canals. After a long day of traveling at 11pm my dad decided it would be a great idea to try to do a bit of sightseeing. We wandered through the streets and on our way, we passed about two dozen places that sell gelato, a billion of little stores and while we were walking around we inevitably got lost. It was time for GPS Ethan to come to the rescue! It was pitch black and the local Venetians were not too happy to help either. I whipped out my phone, and using a combination of google maps, street signs, and my gut, we somehow made it back alive. I exhaled a breath of relief thinking my job was over, but we walked into our AirBnB only to find out that there was no hot water. It was again my job to try to decipher the Italian on the water heater and turn it on. Thankfully the water heater turned on, and my job for that day was over.
Another role that play is my family’s designated technology specialist, I am not sure if it is because my parents are getting old and they are slower at learning new things, but it took me about an hour to explain how Bluetooth works. You may say “Ethan, they are your parents. You shouldn’t be annoyed that you have to help them once in a while.” I agree that helping is great, but it feels like I am constantly explaining something to them or fixing the tech problems. If the wifi is down or if the computer needs an update, it’s always Ethan to the rescue. My job does not only apply to my family at home, but it extends all over. It even gets to the point where my grandma calls me from Chicago, just to ask me if she can press the okay button on her computer.
Although these jobs can sometimes get annoying, in the end it makes me a unique part of my family. Every family member plays a different role, and all the family members come together to make one well-functioning family. Maybe that’s what makes it so special.
You're really good at writing memorable, interesting details. You've created a good picture not just of your GPS & tech responsibilities but also of your family dynamics. I think the introduction also did a good job of easing into the topic. Nice essay!
ReplyDelete(I did notice some typos/other grammar things, which were a bit distracting. Maybe read it out loud to yourself, or ask someone else to proofread?)
I like the Venice anecdote, it's very descriptive and illustrates your strategies in finding your way around. Try omitting the first paragraph. Your second one gets to the point quicker and is more attention-grabbing. I would also consider taking out the technology part and focusing on reflecting on your GPS skills. The tech thing was a little thrown in and not fully developed. I was more curious about how your GPS skills fit into your family dynamics as a whole or how you got stuck with this job. I guess it's harder cause I know you have three other siblings, but maybe think about why you specifically have this job and what that means as part of your identity.
ReplyDeleteNice work!
I really liked the sentence that gives examples of things that will happen if you try to cook. They're funny and unique. Breaking a plate is unexpected. (Although I would delete the word "somehow" once in that sentence since you use it twice in a row.) I also like how in that first paragraph you give a glimpse into what your mom's role is- saving you from your own disasters. I also like the sidetone about how your dad's sense of direction should be at least 50% accurate. I definitely think that these types of jokes work well with your voice and tone. The only main note that I have is that I think that your narrative might benefit by adding a couple sentences for a transition between the introduction and the beginning of the story about Venice. While the connection between them is obviously implied, I think it would read more smoothly if you spell it out for us. This is a cute essay and I think that the conclusion works well with the theme also.
ReplyDeleteI did like the essay, and it had several good anecdotes. There was the anecdote about having to decipher Italian on the water heater that didn't fit all that well. The fact that you had to translate something seemed like an afterthought, and could be removed. The first paragraph started off well, but you could consider shortening it to maybe a single sentence to get faster to the point. The second to last paragraph is also very short compared to the navigation paragraph. You could cut down in the opening paragraph and take out the translation line if you wanted to discuss it more. As it is, it seems like an afterthought.
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