Growing Up Blind

        It's taken me a long time to realize it, or maybe I've known all along but I was determined for things to stay the way I needed them to be. When you're a kid your parents, grandparents, aunts and uncles, who ever it may be acts a certain way and it becomes how you know them as a person. They act sweet and they never let you in on the fact that grandpa could be dying of cancer, or that there isn't any money left for gas, again. I get it that they are just trying to protect us and let us be kids, but at what cost? When I was seven years old I started to clue into the tension or awkwardness in the room when we were all around. I started listening in on those under breathed conversations. I started to realize that the people who were fearless, the people who always smiled, the people who all loved each other didn't always. I guess I ignored it the best I could, gave myself excuses for the people acting differently. But now I'm getting to know my older family all over again, learning who they really are. Not being "a kid" anymore, sucks. But now I've decided that I would rather know the truth, than be taken where I'm supposed to be with a blind fold over my eyes. I'm not trying to bash my family, I think this is something that happens in most peoples lives when they're a kid. It just seems strange that we never really get to know the real side of people until they can't keep up the act any longer. Do we have the right to be mad at our family members for "lying" to us?