everything

i read a blog recently that got me thinking about family and the stuff that is really important, the stuff that is everything.  in all reality i think about this stuff all of the time.  i am an introvert by nature, super analytical and in a constant state of reorganization.  but this blog resonated deep with in me.  what if family isn't everything?  i was kinda banking on the fact that it is.  i get what the writer was saying (she is smart and eloquent after all) about how some families just plain stink or that sometimes families are torn apart and then what?  who are you if that happens?  you don't just cease to be.  or at least that is what i am told.  i pray that i never have to find out.  i recognize that this is really a conversation in perspective.

i am my family.  the family that shaped me as i grew up.  i am my sister who can talk without words and who will try to fix anything. i am my brother who can spin a wild story and make a memory out of a moment.  i am the hardwork of my father and the generosity of my mother. i am the family that shapes me as i continue to grow. i am the forgiveness of my friends who became my family.  i am the passion and the dedication of my husband.  i am the thoughtfulness of aidan, the justice, the literal.  i am the silliness of nadia and her compassion.  i am all of the experiences with all of these people wrapped up into one wackadoodle of a human being. i would not be me without them. 

and they will not be who they are without each other, without us, without the friends they will call family.  someday, when they build their own family, those partners, those children will become their everything.  they shape them in ways that are unimaginable. 

and if you take all my family away, they will still be my everything, because as simple as it is, they are my core.