Family
fam·i·ly [fámməlee]
n (plural fam·i·lies)
1. group of relatives: a group of people who are closely related by birth, marriage, or adoption
2. people living together: a group of people living together and functioning as a single household, usually consisting of parents and their children
3. lineage: all the people who are descended from a common ancestor
4. offspring: a child or set of children born to somebody
5. group with something in common: a group whose members are related in origin, characteristics, or occupation
What is family?
In my own heart and mind I understand family to be those around who help to shape our lives and form us into adults. There is an old adage that goes, “You can choose your friends, but you can’t choose your relatives”. I disagree. While there are certain individuals that are forced upon us like a parent or the spouse of a loved one a person can make a choice as to whether they consider them family.
My own family consists of people related to me by blood and others that I have chosen. My closest friends are my family. Sisters closer to me then anything.
Society influences our lives and our families. They see the Family Tree and nothing beyond it. I see the web. Interconnected and spinning off in many different directions. Webs and overlap and intermingle and yet still remain separate. The people I love as family don’t all see each other as family. My sisters don’t see each other as sisters. As long as they love me as family and consider me in their own web it doesn’t matter.
This isn’t eloquent at all but it is my thoughts and my heart. My true feelings.
Family.
(This does make “family” reunions a pain in my ass.)
