What’s the first thing that comes to mind when you think family? Is it your mom, dad, siblings, cousins, grandparents and so on? If so, that’s totally normal, and according to dictionary.com family is, "any group of persons closely related by blood, as parents, children, uncles, aunts, and cousins." But what if I told you that’s not all that makes up your family in the real world.
You may consider your family to be the people who birthed you, who you grew up with, or possibly a distant cousin. Sure they are your relatives, but your real family is much broader than that, and has so many diverse people in it, that it’s amazing. What makes up your real family is close friends, possibly their families you brought yourself into, and just some random people along the way you’ve gotten close to and your relatives of course. It doesn’t matter who is in your “family circle”, they are all family to you.
So what makes all of those diverse people family? An important reason to me that stands out is that no matter what happens, or how long it’s been, they always seem to love you no matter who you are or what you do. This isn’t always the case, but it is for me. My relatives and diverse family live all over the country, and whenever we all get together it seems like no time has passed, always have a great time together and we appreciate that time together, because no matter what, they will always be family and they will always be there for you which is really important.
So is family important to you? If it’s not, it should be because everyone needs that support system that a family can provide. If not support, laughter, and who doesn’t like to laugh?
