My family is unique because they have overcome cycles of addiction and dysfunction in both of their families and because they are a military family. The author and her husband both grew up with addicted family members and lacked healthy role models, but they have avoided addiction themselves and prioritize providing a loving home for their daughters. Her husband is also a disabled veteran struggling with ongoing medical issues. They support each other through challenges with the Veteran Affairs system. Overall, their resilience in fighting through adversity and overcoming obstacles is what makes their family unique.

1. My Unique Family
My family is unique from the average family because we have been resilient
to the cycles and patterns that have been destructive in our both of our families and
we are unique because my we are a military family. Both of these trials have made
us more unique than the average family.
My husband and I both come from families that struggle with drug addiction,
alcoholism and dysfunction. Any time there is addiction in a family, dysfunction is
present. We luckily have overcome these obstacles and avoided drugs and alcohol.
My mother has been a meth and heroine addict for as long as I can remember. I had
to overcome a very destructive and abusive childhood. I have always wanted more
out of my life. It hasn’t always been easy knowing which road will lead me to a life
of fulfillment. I grew up without a healthy adult figure supporting me. I have
dedicated my life to being the mom I never had and providing a life full of joy and
love in our family.
My husband’s family has also been plagued with addiction and dysfunction.
Although the situations have been different than mine, they have been obstacles for
my husband to overcome. I am fortunate that he has also always wanted a better
life than what was showed to him at a young age. His parents are both recovering
addicts but dysfunction continues to thrive. We have managed to pull our selves
and family away from both of our dysfunctional families so that we can be the best
versions of our selves for our children. We want nothing more than to start a new
generation with our daughters and keep them from the pain that can be caused by
our family members that are sick with addiction.
Outside of our families that we were born into, my husband is now a disabled
veteran. His 3 years in the Army was very hard on him as he served as an
Infantryman. We got married right out of high school and started the journey of a
military couple. We had our first daughter when we were 20 years old. Starting out
married young was hard because we were never shown how to have a healthy
relationship. We have now been married for almost 12 years and have managed to
work through our obstacles and problems. He has been out of the service now for 9
years and still continues to deal with medical problems that followed him out of the
service. Together we support each other and his journey dealing with the Veteran
Affairs. We refuse to give up and we refuse to be discouraged by the obstacles we
have to overcome with the VA.
These are the things that make my family Unique. We are resilient and fight
through adversity. We adapt and over come any obstacles in our way and we refuse
to let any substance or person take control of our lives.