“Anger is only a natural reaction; one of the mind’s ways of reacting to things that it perceives to be wrong. While anger can sometimes lead people to do shocking things, it can also be an instinct to show people that something isn’t right.” –Anonymous

In my previous writings I have mentioned that I have only just recently met my biological father and his whole side of the family. Well, during winter break of 2010, I decided that I would spend my first Christmas with my biological father's side of the family. I got my flight booked and I had my trip planned for a three week stay. Don't get me wrong, I loved it there; it was a wonderful trip but I almost killed my little brother.

My brother Weylin is a wonderful young man, he really is. Lately though he has just lost the motivation to do well in school and has been giving a lot of attitude to people. Well our dad decided that he deserved to have his privileges taken away, such as his car and cell phone usage. He did, however, still make my brother go to work doing his janitorial duties working for our grandfather. Usually my step-mom drove him up every Wednesday to pick up trash and to empty the trashes outside a strip mall complex but this particular Wednesday she had something else to do. I don't exactly remember what it was, all I know is that she asked me if I would mind driving him up there. I had no problem with it; it gave me something to do.

So we made the drive about a mile to a mile and a half up to the strip mall where my brother was to work and I had to pull around back to allow him to grab trash bags and other necessary supplies. I pulled up into a parking space and put the car in park. My brother says to me, "What are you doing? Pull up to the door." I asked him, "Why?" What was his response? "So I don't have to walk in the cold."

Yeah I was a bit pissed off with that one. I put the car in reverse and pulled about ten feet from the supply closet door so he didn't "have to walk in the cold". He gets in the car and directs me to drive to the front of the complex where he is to pick up trash. At this point I am irritated with the whole scene in the back so I took the ten minutes to try and cool off. He gets back into the car and has me drive in front of the store where he empties trash. When he gets out he says to me, "Drive around back and wait for me by the dumpster. I don't want to have to put the trash in my car." Fine. No big deal.

I pull around to the side of the strip mall by this point having gone three-quarters away around the building. I pulled in the parking spot about fifty feet away from the dumpster still to were I could see it in my rear view mirror. I watch my youngest brother drag a few garbage bags full of trash to the dumpster and hoist them in. Then proceed to point to me, stamp his foot and give me the "come here" finger wave. OH HELL NO. I turned around in my seat and gave him the death glare and pointed at him to come to the car. Who was he to have me wait on him hand and foot? Not the Queen of England I could tell you that much. He just stood there; not moving an inch. I then threw the car into reverse, slamming my foot on the gas and pulled the car up to "his royal highness" so he could get in. We then had to finish the circle going back to the supply closet where I parked in a parking space and told him, "This is where I am stopping. You can walk your ass to the door." That did not sit well with him. He got out, kicked the door closed with his steel toe boot, which I am sure dented it but what do I care? It was his car anyways.

On the way home there was silence that filled the car. He tried to tell me how to get back to the house but I was so pissed off at him I told him to shut up and let me do the driving. Well since I live in Arizona, and it was only my first week and a half in Kansas, I got a bit lost on the back roads and I decided to do a large rather reckless U-turn in a huge parking lot. I was pissed off, give me a break on that one. He uttered a few short words that sent me over the top: "I'm going to die in this car today."

One way to piss me off is to be a passenger seat driver, which he had already done the whole first week and a half I had been there. Those eight words were the icing on the cake for that day. We pulled back in front of the house where he proceeded to go inside. I was so pissed that I sat outside cleaning out his car filled with soda and energy drink cans that kept "pinging" due to the constant temperature change in the car. I was driving it so I wanted a clean car. While cleaning, I called our brother Michael Jr. who was at his wonderful girlfriend's house at the moment, to (pardon my language) bitch about our brother. He calmly said to me, "Just tell Dad when he gets home. He will handle it."

I hung up the phone with Michael and had by this point lined up all the cans on top of Weylin's car. When he saw the fact I pulled out an gigantic Monster energy drink can he came out from the house, walked over to the car, and grabbed the one can of approximately ten to fifteen and threw it away. This, to most people, would raise a question of why just that one can? Well in that house, energy drinks are not allowed. He left me to struggle with the rest of his mess. Oh I was pissed.

That's when the angry Chelsee came out. Once I threw the garbage out into the trash, I let that boy have it. I told him that I was not his personal slave and that next time he needed a ride anywhere, he could walk his ass in the ten degree weather. I couldn't care less. I yelled at the kid for about five minutes until he stormed off kicked over the trash can and went inside. I have never yelled at anyone like that in my life. Just as my brother stormed inside, my dad was pulling up in his big Dodge diesel truck. Oh, I made sure to express my "frustrations" with him about my brother. Lets just say that after that conversation he had with my brother, I was never treated like a personal slave by my brother again.

I really do love my brother. But at that moment, I was really going to beat the crap out of him. None the less, things with him have progressed seemingly for the better from that moment on. I can't wait to see what he chooses to do with his life. Who knows, you might see the next video game designed by him.

"Oh! The places you'll go" --Dr. Seuss

Six feet wide from door to door. Beige cloth interior that feels somewhat similar to velvet. I am sitting there surrounded by two pillows, two blankets, and a giant purse filled with many activities to do. On the opposite side sits my brother with pretty much the same things as me, just instead of a purse filled with things, its a backpack. Between us is a small cooler filled with drinks and a few munchies to chow down on along the way. In the front passenger seat sits my mother, lost in her own world of tabloid magazines and a good Daniel Steel book. My dad sits in the driver's seat, always. Its his spot. He is the navigator, always guiding us to a new adventure.
I sat many hours in the same seat, right behind the passenger seat in the back of that vehicle. I enjoyed many car rides and many fun family get-aways. The landscapes that the car has allowed me to see have been magnificent. From the dunes of Arizona to the beautiful speckled beaches of Coronado Island, California, that car has brought me many wonderful pictures. Pictures, however, cannot compare to the wonderful times playing "Mad Libs" with my little brother.
I know that when I grow older and start a family of my own, I want to go on family vacations just like the ones I had when I was growing up. I hope to start a tradition in my own family that my mother and father did with me and my brother. I want my children to remember the car rides and family adventures that they go on with me and the rest of their family. The family car was a spectacular place of my childhood and I'm sure will be in my adulthood too.

I was always blessed when I was a little girl. I was fortunate enough to take trips that I have wanted to take. Since I am still young in the eyes of many, I now realize that I have many trips ahead of me still left to take. I have always wanted to go to Ireland, even though it isn't something that I have passionately wanted to do. It was just a small yearning to see all the wonderful green grass.

I yearn to see the beautiful hills of green grass. I picture myself lying in the grass underneath the shade of a weeping willow tree reading a wonderful book. I see myself standing on a cliff that drops off into an ocean. Going there and exploring the wonderful foods from a different part of the world. Meat, potatoes, and beer will be my diet for the extent of my stay there in Ireland.

I plan to visit all the beautiful castles on the great hillsides. I will lie on my back and reach out over a tall drop off of the Blarney Castle and pucker my lips. I will kiss the Blarney Stone and be gifted with eloquence and persuasiveness. I will go and have a wonderful golf experience on the many of the luscious green courses. While there I will go for the very rare achieved whole in one.

I hope that one day within the next ten years I will be in Ireland fulfilling all my outlandish wishes.

"I am...the spitting image of my father and when the day is done my Momma’s still my biggest fan"--Jessica Andrews

I have grown up living with my mom and my dad here in the great state of Arizona. I was born and raised here and will probably live here for many years to come. I feel that a dad is someone who raises you, someone who goes to all your dance concerts and listens to you when you have an interesting story at school. A dad is someone who is there for you no matter what; someone who will be the one to walk you down the isle on your wedding day and shake the man's hand when he gives you away. So for me, my dad is the man in my house who has been here and raised me since I was six months old. The first time I met the man who helped create me  was a surreal experience for me. In this blog we will the one who lives in Kansas my father, and my dad in here in Arizona my dad.

I always knew I never really looked like any one in my family so the first time I met my father's side of the family, it was an amazing feeling to actually see people that looked like me. My father has a twin sister who, in my opinion, I think will be me in 40 years. The first time I met her I think I just sat there and stared. I tried not to be rude but I think I might have come off that way. She had the same nose as me, the same smile, the same goofy laugh as me and so much more! I thought, "Man, if this is just my aunt, I wonder what it will be like when I meet my father??".  For those who don't have long lost family members that you have never met before, be thankful, because I compare getting to know them its like dating without all the romance and gross stuff.


I started talking to my father in June of 2010 for the first time out of my then 18 years of existence. At first, I was quite angry; I wanted answers. After two months of talking to him and my three brothers in Kansas, it was decided that in October of 2010 I would fly halfway across the country to meet my father; the man who helped put me on this planet. I sat in terminal four at Sky Harbor Airport at gate twenty-something at seven in the morning. I had arrived about two hours early to the airport deathly afraid that security would be super slow and I wouldn't make my flight on time. The two hours I sat there and waited were the longest two hours of my life. I sat there thinking to myself, "What if he doesn't like me? What if things go horribly wrong on the way there and the plane has to land in some BFE town and I am going to miss my opportunity to meet him?". I am lucky in the sense that my aunt, the one who I look so much like, has such wonderful kids that went to Kansas with me the first time and that helped me calm my nerves.


During my whole flight, I didn't want to get up because I just wanted to get there. I didn't want to use the plane toilets because I figured before I actually saw my family I would be able to stop in the bathrooms and freshen up after the three hour flight. Yeah, no. That didn't happen. I walked off the plane at Kansas City International Airport and after walking about 20 yards, there they were. My father, younger brother Michael and my wonderful cousin Mackenzie with her son Luke were waiting for me. What were my first words to them "Ummm...Can you guys watch my stuff? I really have to pee".


I couldn't believe what I had seen. I saw my father for the first time. A man who I had only had seen two pictures of in my whole life and now I was actually in his presence. At first it was quite awkward, I didn't know how to act and I didn't know what to say. I spent two full days with my family out in Kansas plus my two days that I flew in and out of Kansas. On my last night there, we sat down and took family photos, the first one that I had ever been in with them. It was a hard good-bye but I knew I would be back.


It wasn't until an assignment I had for a class in the fall of 2010 that I really realized that "I'm a spitting image of my father".

Me and my (Kansas) father at a bowling alley

I have had a wonderful blessed life within these 8 months getting to know my other half of my family and I couldn't have gone through as much emotional stress as I did with out my mom being "my biggest fan" and the love and support of my dad. I am so grateful that my whole family has accepted me in with open arms as if I have always been there these past 19 years.

Me and my Daddy on Super Bowl Sunday of 2010

New York Mayor Michael R. Bloomberg recently did an undercover study on the state of Arizona's gun laws. Some feel that Arizona's interpretation on the Second Amendment is somewhat of a lax view. Some government officials believe that, in light of recent events such as the Tucson shooting, that a more strict way of going about gun selling should be put into place.

In Mayor Bloomberg's undercover investigation, he sent a person undercover to one of the many gun shows that occur in the valley with a hidden camera. In that investigation he had his people try and purchase guns. During their transaction he made sure that the people told them "Oh no background check? That's OK I probably would pass one anyways" and the sellers still knowingly sold the buyer the gun. Many wonder why with all the violence going on in Arizona and at the border, Arizona would allow such things to happen. In the video there were numerous sellers who knowingly sold the buyer the weapons with no regards to others safety.

While the Mayor of New York was doing his investigation, the Arizona congress is pushing for a new law to be passed where it is legal to carry a gun into federal buildings as well as colleges. This comes with Arizona's recent law that allows people to carry a concealed weapon without having a permit. This opens up new doors for criminals to carry weapons without people knowing. This is a big argument for people such as Mayor Bloomberg who feel that its laws such as these that caused the shootings such as the most recent Tucson shootings and border killings. Who knows? Maybe it will take more people to die before things change, for stricter laws to be put in place.