The term "broken family" has become quite prevalent in our society. Though divorce, pregnancy out of wedlock, and step-relatives have become more common, accepted, and sometimes even applauded, I feel as though there is still a stereotypical view of the circumstances of these situations. In my situation, though, divorce and step-relatives mended my family, rather than tear it apart. In fact, words like step-dad, step-brother, and step-daughter are rarely, if ever, used to describe us, mainly because my family has successfully changed the connotation of those words.

This article is not about the context of my family environment, though; I've spent my whole life explaining my family background to every new person I've met. Instead, this article is about shining a light of appreciation on my parents, who have perfectly raised an un-perfect family by teaching us that love is really all you need (no matter how cliché that might sound).

I believe my parents found each other by fate, or destiny, or whatever you wish to call events that are truly meant to happen. I believe the fact that they met after already having children was a circumstance that was predetermined to be an essential life lesson in the rest of their lives. My parents have worked diligently, yet seemingly effortlessly, to prove that biology isn't the defining factor when it comes to creating a family. They have led my family across every boundary and through every obstacle without ever letting my siblings and I truly know the difficulty that was often times a result.

Aside from the tremendous love and care that was put into raising 5 children, my parents instilled personal, moral, and all-around necessary life values into our lives. Whether it was simple table manners, like making sure our napkins were always on our laps, or making sure we never took anything for granted, they always encouraged these values with our best interest in mind.

As a child, it is so easy to overlook your parents' past and assume that you know best. In fact, I lived like that for most of my life. However, now that I live away from home for most of the year, and am becoming an adult myself, I wish I knew how valuable my parents' advice was as a child, for most everything they have told me has been right. It's hard to think of my parents as being anything other than just that, my parents. But they lived an entire life of making mistakes, falling in love, pursuing success, and being independent before they had to do it all over again with me in the picture. Recognizing this now has made me wish that I valued everything my parents had done for me in the moment, but I guess recognizing their importance and the value of their advice later in life is better than not recognizing it at all.

Mom & Dad, please know how much I appreciate your love and care and how lucky I feel to be your daughter. You have taught me so much, and it would take me pages and pages of writing to identify everything I love about having you as parents. I hope to laugh as much as you, love as much as you, and turn the most un-perfect situations into perfect ones for my children, just as you have.