The saying, "blood is thicker than water," is generally used when stating that your family will take priority over your friends. This saying may be the case when it comes to the actual substances -- blood versus water -- but I disagree with it in terms of family versus friends. What defines family isn’t necessarily your internal makeup. I think that when you are ten years old and you want to pick a play date over a family obligation then the statement applies but by the time you are eighteen years old you have your best friends and you know who is there for you and who will always be there for you.
Family is when someone is there for you. Family is when your best friend’s mom sends you a “love” package at school cause you’re missing home or another friend’s mom sends you brownies because you’re having a bad week. Family is when you tell someone you need them and they call you without hesitation. Family is feeling 110 percent comfortable with them, whether it’s crying over heartbreak, laughing over a tumble or simply sharing secrets. Family is when you know things about this person and it still doesn’t affect your love for them. Family is when you cannot imagine your life without that person. Family is deeper than the same last name, pigment, genes and religious beliefs.
A friend becomes family when you feel for them. Think of your sister or brother and when their feelings are hurt -- your first instinct is to defend them, and it would be the same thing for your best friends, right? It would be for me or my friends -- correction -- my friends who have grown to be my family would. Growing up with my best friend by my side since first grade, now about to turn 19, I can say she’s not like my sister, she is my sister.
Even with girls I met this semester -- a short five or six weeks ago I would call my family. As we are joining a sorority together, they are my family and not because sororities are supposed to call each other sisters but because they are genuinely my family. I cannot imagine a day without any of my closest friends from home nor school; I would do anything for these people and that’s what makes me feel they are my family.
The definition of family shouldn’t be based on structure or genetics but feelings, emotions and connections. Of course, your family will always hold a very special place in your heart but there is also room for your friends to become family. Friends become family when the love you feel for them is so deep you miss them minutes after parting, you drop everything in your hands to help them or you defend them to anyone who may cross them wrong. Most importantly, friends become family when you can fall asleep at night knowing they’d do the exact same thing for you.
