Final Essay Proposal

For my final travel essay, I will likely focus on the recent trip my family took last summer to visit my mom's sister's family in San Francisco. The characters involved would include my family--myself, my younger sister, and my parents--along with my aunt's family--my two cousins (who are around the same age as me), my uncle, and my aunt. The last time we went to San Francisco, I was still in middle school and, as such, interacted much differently with my extended family than I did in our most recent visit. This is important as I want to explore my thoughts and feelings regarding how my relationship with my aunt, uncle and cousins have changed, what may have resulted in those changes, how I can tell things have changed, how I perceive these individuals relative to my family's last visit, etc. Inter-family relationships are always significantly complex so I want to write about a handful of specific events and interactions--and my personal reflections of them--that would most clearly indicate these ideas to readers. The overall themes will likely be along the lines of accepting that people change, that one can't completely control and manage their relationship with another human being, and how one should appreciate that that connection exists in the first place.