February is the month of love. Valentine’s day is a great reminder of who we love, how we love, and what affects this love. As people of color and as people who come from such close-knit families, love is an important thing that must be cherished. Our parents are our links to our ethnic backgrounds, but they are also our models for many other things. We are all close to our parents and our parents are the direct models we use to show love to our friends, our siblings, and, for some of us, our significant others.
Kaizz’s parents were college sweethearts. They’ve known each other since their freshman years. He witnessed the amount of quality time his parents had and the amount of times they helped one another to show how much they care for one another. He was told of the time that his father took on 2 jobs and pooled donations from classmates to make sure that his girlfriend (Kaizz’ mom) could afford tuition and graduate. He took that story to heart and his love language has been quality time and service ever since. He cannot go a day without spending time with the people he loves. It may be from attachment issues, but it is also how he shows he loves the people around him. He always makes sure he can be of use to people. He always has time to listen to his friends, always has an open shoulder for his friends to cry on, and he always makes sure to offer favors just to help however he can. He loves his friends, family, and his girlfriend, and he always makes sure that his friends know through his actions and not just his words.
Helen’s parents have always instilled the idea that God is at the center of all relationships. She makes sure that the people she loves knows that she’s always praying for them and always ensuring that they know that she cares. Her parents also emphasized quality time whenever they were around each other and this definitely shows in how Helen shows her love. She sometimes stretches herself thin because she always has to make sure that she spends at least some time with the people she cares about. Sometimes she’ll end up hanging out with three friends who do not know each other just to make sure that everyone gets a chance at hanging out with her. While she is not always available to hang out because of this, her friends know that once you get to hang out with her, you’ll know just how much she loves you.
Monica’s parents are the same as Helen and Kaizz, but her parents have also shown how important it is to show kindness and love to people that they do not entirely know. Monica’s parents have been known to have entire conversations with people they have never met before just because they happened to be speaking Spanish. Monica emulates this as well. She has been known to interact with various people and show genuine interest with what they have to say. She makes sure that even those she isn’t particularly close with knows that she still cares about them. The people she is close with feel that love tenfold.
