Ethnography: Becoming A Role Model

I was breaking the rules as I texted all throughout geometry. I anxiously awaited a response from my sister, MaryGrace, saying everything went well. After multiple “We’re not sure yet.” and “She’s still in the operating room.” texts, I was an uncle. It was February 28th, 2016. Just like that, at 15 years old, I became what most people aren’t until much later in life.
After what seemed like an endless wait, I found myself in the hospital room with a brand new baby boy, yet to be named, resting in my arms. After the reality set in, I found myself asking, “How was it possible that all of a sudden I became someone who is meant to be a role model for years to come?”
I was a typical teenage boy. I watched football, played baseball, talked sports. Essentially all the activities a normal teenager would do. However, unlike my friends, I could also add being thrown up on by a baby to my list of activities. I was now comforting a baby when he was restless and

This feeling of maturity began the minute I held him, and it hasn’t stopped. A year and a half has gone by now. Seeing him often, I’ve watched him learn to crawl, walk, play, and even talk. We’re always together whether it’s playing with blocks, or a ball, or watching Moana. Spending time with him makes me realize that I was, within my family, what Owen is to me. I stay in the yard with him playing games, just as my dad had with me. I watch TV with him, just as my sisters had with me. I take hundreds of pictures of him when we’re together, just as my mom had with me. I was there to carry him on my back for a mile and a half long hike across a state park. When he sees me, he walks right up, points to me, and just barely manages the name, “SEAN!” He relies on me to be the one to pick him up so he can dunk a basketball, or to hold his hand going down the steps. It’s easy for me to see, even in his early years, that he already looks up to