Family Relations Post #2

The other day in class we discussed how the family works together as a functional (hopefully) unit and were asked to start brainstorming what our personal families behave like.  I am a Dental Hygiene major and so, of course, I pictured my family working together much like all of the elements of the mouth work together on a daily basis.  I pictured my mom as the maxillary (upper part of the mouth) arch, because usually the mother in the family has a major influence on the father, who I pictured as the mandibular (lower part of the mouth) arch.  Both are just as important, it's just that the lower part of the mouth is more apt to "move" when the upper is not.  The upper is more set in place, and is therefore not as apt to move when "disagreements" or differences in ideas come into the picture.  My mother is a very sweet woman, but she is definitely the backbone of the family.  The upper and lower are joined together by the TMJ joint (the strongest joint in the body)...it is VERY hard to break (much like my parent's relationship).  It may get a little painful sometimes, but it is even stronger with use that it was 28 years ago (much like the muscles of our own TMJ joints).  My parents have been married for many years and are stronger together than ever. They have 4 children who love them, and a nephew who we all love as well.  Each of us also contribute to the anatomy of our family "mouth".  My older sister is 26 and has always been very grounded.  She is the one who keeps us all in line if things ever get crazy, (which they seldom do), and for that reason I picture her as the Frenulum Linguae, or "the attachment under the tongue"...this attachment makes sure that the tongue movements do not get "too wild", and in the case of our family, influences us younger kids to not say things to each other that we would later regret. My little sister would be considered the incisors (the front four teeth) because she is such a go getter, and is quite influential and inspiring to our family.  These are the teeth that are used to "take the first bite", and she definitely does that when it comes to her life.  My brother is 19 and I would consider him to be the occlusal  surface of the teeth (the top surface).  This is the portion of the teeth that grinds the food after the incisors rip it off.  I would consider him to be this, because of his dedication to things which he is not always interested in doing but which are good.  If there is something to be done; work, school, etc. he takes on the "daily grind" no matter what.  And then there is Caden, my little nephew who is almost a year old.  He is the tongue, the center of us all.  We LOVE him more than ANYTHING!  And then there is the gospel of Jesus Christ, the element that keeps us strong.  I would consider that to be calcium - strengthens all of us and allows us to better fulfill our duties as a family.  As much as I love teeth, I love my family and the gospel WAY more, I would be nothing without them and I am very grateful and blessed to be able to strengthen my testimony of both through the teachings of this class.