When I was growing up, my parents’ older friend Judy would come to grandparents’ day at school with me. Every year, Judy would come and be my “special person.” While this was fun, my grandparents and extended family have lived hours away my whole life. 

When I first met Eli, one of the first things I noticed was how his grandparents were always around, and the distance between family is something that impacts everyone even if they may not realize it. 

Eli Miller is a senior at Park and I wanted to look at a specific part of his life that has always stood out to me: his family dynamic. Eli’s grandparents live about five minutes away from his house and he says he sees them daily. I asked Eli his favorite thing about living close to his grandparents, and he replied, “they come to all my sporting events and they’re always just up at my house. We can always visit them at their house really easily just for simple things like dinner.” 

Eli talked about how he enjoys the everyday activities that his grandparents can be present for, like sports games, weeknight dinners, or just rides to practice. With his grandparents being so present at sporting events, Eli says that they are “extra motivation for running because they’re always at my races, making me more motivated when I’m running.” 

Eli is committed to Tiffin University to run cross country and track, and you already know his grandparents were at the signing and are prepared to be decked out in Tiffin gear. 

In terms of other extended family, Eli has an aunt, uncle, and cousin that live in Columbus. I asked him if there are any upsides to that, and he said, “it’s more special when you see family that’s out of town because you have less time together.” This side of his family is still very supportive and he says that “they always visit for holidays and special occasions.” 

I asked Eli the role his grandparents play in his life, to which he said, “They are very important because they’ve always been there for me and I know I can always rely on them for anything.” Eli’s grandparents help by taking care of his dog and taking him on walks every day, inviting them over for dinner often, and his grandma has a specialty of removing clothing stains and stitching damaged clothes back together. 

These everyday details can seem small but they relieve stress from everyone in Eli’s family. Eli also talks about how helpful his grandpa was when the pipes froze in his house due to the low temperatures. He said, “we didn’t know how to unfreeze them and my Pap somehow knows the layout of our house and came and thawed it out with a hairdryer.” How his Pap knows their pipe layout is a mystery, but I guess that’s just a talent that comes with becoming a grandparent in the Miller house. Eli says, “if we ever need help with anything, we just call them and they’re always around.” This kind of support system is life-changing and Eli is thankful to have family members so involved in his life.