Jon Wakefield heads outside into the cold of winter, remembering at the last second to pull up his hood. The plate of raw burgers in his hand have yet to look very appetizing. Snowflakes dance through the air and lightly cover the grill, but soon melt away as the grill begins to warm.
The Wakefield family has a very strong family bond. Like the example above, they are willing to go to any lengths to provide happiness for the other members of the family. In modern American life, family is still a very important value. The strength of your family bond depends on many things and some family bonds are not as strong as others. However, Jon Wakefield believes that his family has been this close for a very long time.
“I love my family. We have been this way since as far back as 1896 when we have traced it back. I would most certainly keep it the way it is.” Jon Wakefield said.
His mother, Janet Graham, strongly agrees with her son’s statement. She also knows how well they have brought their family and step family together.
“Jon’s father and I got divorced in late 1999. This was hard on my three sons because we had to move all the way from Indonesia to America. After a few years, I met their stepfather, Chris Graham, and I felt a deep connection to him after our minister introduced us. This may sound surprising, but we were actually engaged a month after our first date. I guess it must really have been love at first sight [laughs]! His own two sons [from a previous marriage] have adjusted well and I feel that we have done a great job joining them together.” Janet Graham said.
It is typical for joined families to have their share of issues though. Despite the closeness their family feels toward each other, there have also been some huge issues that also push them away from each other as well. This is due in part to Jon’s stepfather, Chris Graham, and his Chinese family background.
“According to my Chinese heritage, I was not supposed to divorce my first wife or go on to remarry another woman. When I met Janet and we began dating, my family at first didn’t mind because they figured that I was just trying to have some fun and thought that it was not going to turn out to be anything serious. That all changed after I decided to propose. Suddenly I found myself shunned and later after we got married, I was cut off completely for a short period of time. Now, however, the greater majority of my family has come to embrace her and treat her as close to an equal. I am so glad that they came out of their shells.” Chris Graham said.
Colin Wakefield [Jon’s older brother] also loves how close their family has come together. Even though he is currently 22 and away at college most of the time, he always makes time for Jon to visit.
“Jon is fully aware of the fact that my apartment is always open to him whenever he needs me. We have hardly ever had a fight, which is considered strange because we are brothers after all. I am proud to have Wakefield blood running through my veins. To me, being a Wakefield means that you are always there for eachother no matter what. I ran into some trouble last year at the University of Arkansas and ended up losing my scholarship and have since been forced to move to Mission in order to attend UMKC. My father flew in all the way from Indonesia and his brothers flew in from Hong Kong, Costa RIca, China, and Dallas to support me after it happened. They never grilled me with questions, but instead helped me through it. Not many people can say that they have a family like that. If I have my own family one day, I want mine to be just like this. Sure we have our own problems, but at the end of the day I would not trade them in for anything!” Colin Wakefield said.
