"The family. We were a strange little band of characters trudging through life sharing diseases and toothpaste, coveting one another's desserts, hiding shampoo, borrowing money, locking each other out of our rooms, inflicting pain and kissing to heal it in the same instant, loving, laughing, defending, and trying to figure out the common thread that bound us all together."
- Erma Bombeck
I like some of the things that Ms. Bombeck said. I especially like how she described her family. How it wasn't tied to blood, but a lifetime of trying to figure out what it was that held them together.
Family is a unique & fuzzy subject for me because sometimes mine stinks. Who's doesn't? Family lets us down - it's got to, it's filled with people.
But I like how Bombeck puts it. We're all trudging through life together. At least we're not alone.
My sense of family has changed over the years, welcoming (or... not) two brothers, divorce, new boyfriends / girlfriends / wives of my parents, living with other families (I have about 5 women who, at one point or another, considered themselves my "second mom"), living with a whole bunch of other teenagers at Camp, living alone, living with friends, meeting my cute boyfriend's family (and hoping they'll let me in), marrying that man (and sometimes still hoping), watching my parents with the understanding that they're "just people and they can make mistakes too", and finally (for now) inviting friends into my sense of family.
And with those developments, I find 2010 a year where I will celebrate 4 thanksgivings. Over the next few days, I'll chronicle them.
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