Tag: family

My Brothers

Daphne PsaledakisLeave a comment

One of the downsides of the schedule we have at OVS is that our spring break falls about two weeks after everyone else has their spring break, and that includes my brothers. This past week, they road tripped from Aspen out to where we used to live near San Francisco. They spent the week staying up there in a friends pool house, and then on Friday they came down to visit me at school.

They showed up around 10, just as morning announcements was starting. After announcements, I was able to catch up with them briefly before having to head off to class. My dad and Peter drove to Ventura to hang out while I finished my classes, while my youngest brother Philip joined me.

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Moosey Goosey

Daphne PsaledakisLeave a comment

So as promised, I’m writing a blog about the newest addition to our family, Moose. After our dog Hattie passed away from cancer several years ago, we went in search of a companion for our other dog Luna.

The first dog we came across, who we named Ute, was a bit too feisty for the family lifestyle. So we took him back to the animal shelter, and came home with Moose.

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When I first saw Moose, I was grooming my horse in the barn. My dad and brothers walked into the barn aisle with him on a leash, and I am not kidding when I say I thought he was the ugliest dog I had ever seen. He is very clearly a mutt, and as my mother says, “he is everything but the kitchen sink.”

He is black, with brown feet and brown cheeks. His tongue has a small birth mark on it, and his feet are absolutely ginormous, if that’s even a word. He’s gotten a little less odd looking as he’s gotten older, but my first impression was to look at my family and think “what have you done?”

Much to my surprise, Moose was a character. He would walk out our back door and disappear for hours on end. When we first got him, we lived on a ski mountain. He came home one night with a cut on his foot from someone’s ski’s, and another time he came home with a huge gash on his leg from getting hit by a car.

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Dogs Really Are a Mans Best Friend

Daphne Psaledakis1 Comment

My family has always had a dog around. In almost every memory of mine, one of our dogs is present. They are as much a part of the family as my little brothers, and a lot easier to get along with.

When we lived in London, we got a labrador retriever named Hattie, which was the first dog my younger brother was introduced to. My dad knew well before getting the dog that Peter was terrified of them, and well, he figured the best remedy for that would be to give him no choice.

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Unfortunately for Peter, Hattie took a particular liking to him. She used to chase him around the house and tackle him to the ground, and then spend a good amount of time licking him. At first, Peter was not very pleased. Eventually, you could hear his shrieks of laughter from a mile away, and he became the dog lover of the family. More so than the rest of us that is.

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My Second Family

Daphne PsaledakisLeave a comment

As I step off the plane, my friend texts me: “Welcome home!” Normally, I wouldn’t even think twice about this. I would respond saying thank-you, and how excited I was to be home. Only this time, I paused for a second. I had to think twice about it.

I spend the majority of my time here at OVS. I live here, I go to school here. And at some point, withought me even realizing it, I started thinking of it as home.

My family is in Colorado, and when I’m on break that’s where I go. Aspen is beautiful, but at the same time it’s hard for me to be there. The friends I had while going to school there I have grown apart from.

It’s hard to go from living in the dorm, where almost all of my friends are around me 24/7, to Aspen where I don’t have very many people to connect with. When I came to school here my friends slowly became best friends, and from there they morphed into a second family.

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And while I miss being home at times, when I’m home I miss being at school.

So when my friend texted me that welcome home message at the beginning of break, I thought to myself that it’s just one of my homes. The home where my family is. But my life, my life is back in California.

People Around Us

displacedlocalLeave a comment

We look to the people around us as a support group

Improvised experts in our life

A group of people that know us the best

Like a herd of elephants crossing Africa

We keep these people close as we make journeys

These people are told everything

And are sometimes told nothing

The people around us should be more than friends

They should become Family

Random Disney Trip

backinphillyLeave a comment

As I write this, we are about to leave for a day long trip to Disney. These past couple days away from school have been filled with excitement, heartbreak but most of all, FOOD!

Yesterday we found a place in La Jolla that advertises the sale of a cheesesteak. Before yesterday, the only place I was getting cheesesteaks from in this town was Jersey Mike’s and Philly station. Both of which are somewhat subpar.

Yesterday, the restaurant had the ingredients that we were waiting for.

Amoroso’s rolls? Check!

Provolone and Cheez Whiz? Check!

Pennsylvania Dutch Birch Beer? Check!

Every thing was falling into place. That was until we found out that the cheesesteaks were made with roast beef.

Now I’m not going to sit here and pretend to have any idea what kind of meat goes into a classic Philly cheesesteak, but it ain’t roast beef. Something about the taste just wasn’t right. We quickly recognized that the meat ruined the sandwich.

But I wanna mention one massive heartbreak from today. The Eagles, once again, lost.

At this point, I’m not surprised. I’m just annoyed and pissed off. I’m disappointed. It was hard to watch my team fall so pathetically. But I digress. We move on. That’s the Philly way.

Well, hopefully Mickey Mouse and all that crap will help me feel better. I’m going to spend tomorrow in Disneyland with my family and my girlfriend.

I hope nothing goes wrong. What could possibly, right?

My Brother

displacedlocalLeave a comment

My brother and I have a unique relationship.
I was disapproving when we first met
When we were little kids my brother and I had a very…violent relationship. We often fought about everything, from who got the last pretzels(A joy I have now because he no longer can eat wheat) to who won in basketball.

Games often ended in loud arguments and we had bitter conversations often. This stayed this way until middle school.


Though there were a lot of good times too

In 2008 my brother first took me to fairfax and La Brea in Beverly hills. On La Brea lies one of my favorite stores, Undefeated. We walked and talked and my interest in sneakers was brought back.

Throughout high school we would often talk about street wear, cars, and sneakers. We would talk about what we found to be the best sneaker of all time. A Title that the Black/Cement Jordan 3 currently holds.

We would play basketball and we would go and make trips to Undefeated, Supreme, and Union.

Slowly I got closer to the point where he would have to go off to college.

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Nine One One

callmemaybe32Leave a comment

It was just a regular sunday night until it wasn’t.

I was sitting at home with a friend enjoying some pizza after playing Madden 13 when all of a sudden my sister bursts in the door yelling.

I was sitting at the table and she rushed in telling me that there is a huge fire right behind a property that we rent out.

She said that she drove by and called 9-1-1 and told them that there was a very large fire and told them the location.

After finishing dinner my Dad and I decided we should probably make sure our property was not on fire and that our storage was ok.

After we had determined our stuff was in no imminent danger and had a talk with our renters we wanted to check it out.

We walked down a long stretch of driveway to see a house engulfed in flames, making loud popping noises like something was exploding, and a firetruck parked right in the middle of two trees.

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Rebecca’s Outlook

Daphne Psaledakis1 Comment

(The following is a work of fiction)

I walk into my third-grade classroom with my head down, my eyes purposely averting the stares of my fellow classmates. I sit down in the back, alone, as usual. My classmates began avoiding me long ago, and truthfully I am thankful for it.

The teacher comes into the room, a bright smile on her face. She’s young, and this is only her third year teaching. As she begins the lesson, she glances to me. I notice the moment of hesitation in her voice as he takes in my bruised eye, before she continues on with what she was saying before.

This isn’t the first time I have come to school bruised, and I know that at recess I’ll be pulled aside and asked what has happened. I’ll give the usual answer, “I ran into something,” or “I tripped.” But the excuse barely worked the last time, and I know that this time it will be harder to cover for Daddy.

As I suspected, I am pulled from the bench where I sit and eat, and taken to the principal’s office. When I walk in I notice the young lady sitting across from Mrs. Wilkon, easily making small talk.

The next hour goes as I suspected, with the young social worker asking me questions about my dad and what it’s like at home, with Mrs. Wilkon looking on.

By the end of it, I’m not so confident that they won’t be taking Daddy away from me this time. I consider this as I make my way home after school, retreating immediately to my bedroom upon walking in the door. That way Daddy doesn’t know I’m home, and can’t blame me for anything.

I go to school the next morning as usual, and the day after that as well. I’ve begun to relax, having not heard anything of the events a few days before. Then a week after everything has happened, I am once again called into Mrs. Wilkons office.

The social worker is there once again, and she explains to me in a calm voice that I am being moved to a foster family who lives nearby. She takes me home, and waits patiently while I pack my few belongings.

Daddy isn’t home, and she explains to me that he won’t be coming back for a very long time. I”m not very sad about it. We lost Mommy to cancer years ago, and since then Daddy hasn’t been the same. But now it’s just me, Rebecca, who’s still here.

It doesn’t take very long to get to the foster family’s house, and once we’re there I’m lead inside and introduced to my new parents and siblings. They show me the house, and finally my room, leaving me to unpack and settle in. They have a nice house, and seem like a nice family.

I don’t think I mind them too much.

It takes me a while to adjust to my new life, and especially to stop being so nervous all the time. My new family is nice, and they explained to me that they would never hit me like Daddy did if anything went wrong. I even find myself relaxing.

And I think to myself, I could get used to this.

Choices

callmemaybe321 Comment

I have been thinking a lot lately about what my future is going to be like.

Not as a grown adult, but where I want to go to college, what I want to study, and what about sports?

Thinking about what’s going to go into getting in to the schools I want to go to, and if I will be able to do it.

It’s a lot to be thinking about, there are so many choices we have to make even at the young age of 16, but I have realized the future is really up to me and how hard I want to work.

I have always been the kid who doesn’t put in the effort, and I come out with a few As and a few Bs.

I have realized I need to start actually trying to put in more effort to make it all As, instead of sitting on my butt when I have free time, maybe I should study more, and get work done before sunday night.

Maybe that means I can sleep more seeing as my schedule right now is crazy.

That brings me to the other thing I have been thinking about.

It was just last year that sports started to mean something to me again.

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