Autobiography Draft 1 (More to come)
For as long as I can remember, my family has always been a huge part of my life. Growing up in a small suburban town on the east coast of the United States, and staying there has also contributed a lot to the bonds that both my family and I share. I was born on June 25th, 1991 in the Princeton Hospital, and being an only child it was just my parents and myself living in the same house. Fortunately at this time I had 3 older female cousins who were there to show me the ropes and essentially help me out when I was a youngster.
While my immediate family was close to me, there are certain friends who also came into my life who I like to consider my family. For the most part I’ve had 3 friends in particular who have been part of my life dating back to kindergarten and one who has even been a huge influence in my life since preschool. Being the only boy cousin in my family, I always yearned for the feeling of having a brother and these 3 friends in particular were there to fill that void.
From a young age my parents always tried to get me out in the world to meet and interact with new people. I vaguely remember hanging out with a group of other babies my age. My mother still refers to this as “play group” in which a bunch of mothers would bring their young children over someone’s house or to another undisclosed location to allow their children to interact. This doesn’t seem to have been successful to me as I vaguely remember the people the people I met. I do remember their names, but I haven’t kept in contact with them after all those years.
This brings me back to my friends that I have kept contact with. My town was based largely around sports. If you do ever take a trip to Plainsboro, New Jersey I’d wonder why unless you told me you were going to watch a certain type of sports game. Granted we are the supposed spot that the aliens landed in H.G Wells broadcast of War of the Worlds. Despite living there I don’t associate my town with that famous narrative, as two overgrown bushes in the smallest park in town cover the only monument of it. As I mentioned sports earlier this is where most memories of my friends were made.
Growing up I was always considered one of the jocks, as I played almost every sport imaginable. Soccer in the fall, basketball in the winter and baseball the rest of the time. This interaction allowed me to further build my bonds with my extra “family”. One of the best moments comes from my friend who actually attends this very same college. It was during Tee-Ball and I remember vividly what had happened, the ball was hit to me and as I went to throw the ball back in my friend came over and tackled me. I was so upset I ran over to my dad who was the coach at the time and told him I didn’t want to play baseball anymore, and that I was no longer friends with Eric. Had that happened my life today would be so much different.
The fact that I was pretty much hooked on sports at such a young age really affected all of the people I would interact with in my life. I was going through practice and games almost day and the people I was hanging out with was never changing. The fact that all our parents were interacting during the game too had an influence, as my parents seemed to only allow me to hang out with the kids whose parents they were familiar with.
Unfortunately I never really got to know my grandparents on my father’s side as well as I wanted to. They passed away when I was a young age. I never knew my father’s mother and the only memories of my dad’s father consist of cleaning out his house after his death and adopting the dog that he left behind who shortly ran away and was hit by a car. There are several pictures of him holding me but I have no recollection of them what so ever. As for my mother’s side I had much more of a special bond with my grandparents.
Every Christmas and Easter was spent with my grandparents for at least half of the day. They always gave me the best presents at Christmas and always sent me a card for my birthday. For the most part they were always there for the most important events in my life. Unfortunately my grandfather passed away in March of 2009 and most recently my grandmother passed away in May of 2010. Fortunately my great aunt and uncle were there to fill that void.
Personally my favorite family member is my Great Uncle. We have so many similar interests with fishing and hunting. I guess you could say that we’re the outdoorsmen of the family. I have so many memories of sitting around the table just listening to him ramble on about his past experiences. Him and my great aunt back in the day when they were both working for the CIA. Now I get the chance to make new memories with them as they own a beach house in Sea Isle City, New Jersey. Every summer since I can remember I have been spending my summers at their beach house, the most memorable events include Labor Day, Memorial Day and the Fourth of July.
All of these memories have been shared with my cousins on my fathers side. I rarely interact or talk to my cousins on my mother’s side as there is a family fight going on regarding the will of my late grandparents. Fortunately on my fathers side there are eight cousins who are close to my age who I consider my brothers and sisters. I’m one of two boy cousins. There are seven girl cousins who range from juniors in high school to having graduated from college 2 years ago. Being the oldest boy cousin and the only one who is dating, or of dating age they always try to pry into my life and try to give me advice about choosing girls. The most memorable thing they said to me was after I bought my ex-girlfriend a Tiffany and Co. necklace was that “Rauh boys have good taste”.
My various Aunts and Uncles have also been a huge part of my life allowing me places to sleep, feeding me, giving me advice on colleges and on a couple occasions taking me to the doctor. I remember back when I was 8 years old my parents went away to the Caribbean for a week and my aunt and uncle were allowing me to live with them for the week. Half way through I got an ear infection and got extremely sick. I remember my aunt taking me to the doctor to get medication and I thought she was the greatest thing because I was so nervous that I wouldn’t be able to go to any doctor except my usual one at home.
Having my entire family live on the east coast makes it extremely convenient to see everyone. There’s no traveling and unless there’s in climate weather or someone is sick we can count on everyone to make every event. After my aunt and uncle were in a serious car accident one icy winter. Since then they’ve been more cautious about driving in snowy weather but we still manage to see them every year around Christmas time.
