Value(able) Family: A Love Story

     What is a family? Is family the people we grow up with, go to reunions with, spent childhood holidays with 2 maybe 3 times a year? Is it limited to blood relatives, second and third cousins on your dad's side and aunt and uncles on your mom's side? Or is it more than that? I agree that the people we are related to CAN be considered family, but can also be excluded from it as well. In my opinion, I believe family is not limited to blood. Family encompasses all of those people whose company you enjoy and those who you hold dear in your heart.

     Growing up I was taught that “family” was those that you were related to, you didn't have a choice in this matter. Aunts, uncles, grandparents and cousins alike. I didn't see things that way. In fact, the only people I truly considered family were my parents, my cousins Chris and Jamie and the few amazing friends I had. All others, truthfully, couldn't have been further from family. From where I stood the feeling was mutual and it really bothered me for a while, but I got over it and accepted it for what it was. The people I had in my life and genuinely loved, those people were my family, and I was fine with that. Its those people that will stay up with you when you are so depressed and so drunk you can't see straight but you know you are going to make it through the night because they are there with you. Those that will beat your ass before you set your uncle's field on fire one second and the next be crying on the porch because he felt so bad. Its those people that would do anything and everything in their power to make sure everything ends up ok and the way it should. Love, that it what makes a family, a family. It's that love that binds us together so that anything may be possible.

     It doesn't matter who they are, how they came into your life, or how far away they are, it is all trivial, the only thing that does matter is the fact that you would do anything you could to help them in their time of need, and they would do the same for you... all at the drop of a hat. In the past few years my family has grown more than I ever thought imaginable with “new” family and friends. I have truly been blessed with many amazing people in my life and can't help but to cherish them in all the ways that make them great. I can honestly say that without the family I had growing up, I wouldn't be here today. My childhood was nowhere near as bad as some, but when you're a teenager everything is life changing and every tragedy that happens is a nuclear holocaust. Then you grow up and realize it wasn't that bad and you learn to be thankful for the people in your life that love you, and I can't help but be eternally thankful for my family.