Family, Original and Otherwise

Call it a clan, call it a network, call it a tribe, call it a family. Whatever you call it, whoever you are, you need one. ~Jane Howard

If minutes were kept of a family gathering, they would show that "Members not Present" and "Subjects Discussed" were one and the same. ~Robert Brault, http://www.robertbrault.com/

I have a great family. I love my kids and grand kids and I am always happy to be with them, and they treat me like a queen. I have nieces and nephews and a sister whom I love, but there are family members already gone and others who don't talk to me. I am so needy that I expanded my relatives out beyond my family of origin, finding sisters and brothers in a spiritual family who enrich my life--people who are beyond just friends. Both families have carried me through dark times, and I am grateful for them in my life today. It is hard to believe that I used to be such an introvert who isolated from people--very socially challenged; I am happy to say that I have gotten over that... well I am getting over that. Thank you, my family.

The drawing on the bottom I did from a tin type I found at a yard sale, it is titled Sisters. The other one is from a photo my dad bought at a thrift store--he said it made him think of his three daughters. I call it Cousins.