Where Would We be Without Family?

Family..the one word that could envoke disgust or joy or sometimes a mixture of both. Families have hidden secrets that they try in vain to keep locked in the closets of the past. Families have the token 'wierdo' that everyone wonders either a) how they ended up wierd or b) how did such a wierd person end up in the family. Families have members who at their very best act like the scum of the earth and members who at their worst still seem like Mother Theresa. Of course there are all of the 'normal' members in between who have been blended together through fate, marriage, divorce, birth, adoption, and through other ways yet to be determined.

What constitutes normal you ask? Normal is yourself. Everyone else in the family is catagorized into to neat little niches in the structure of the family unit. Sure the crazy uncle that likes to talk to himself in the corner of the kitchen seems a little sketchy, but he thinks he is normal. He is actually thinking his niece has gone off the deep-end because her hair is dyed a funky red and has multiple piercings in her ear. The uncle is normal and the niece is normal...in their own eyes.

Family is what made me who I am today. Where would I be without them? What stories could I share with my friends without crazy uncle Bob? I have been shaped and molded by these individuals. My history is written with them as main characters in the story of my life. I love these people even though some of them drive me up the wall. I cherish them with all my heart and I hope they feel the same way about me, even though some of them have to tolerate my silliness. Blood lines and adoption papers tie us all together into a package this doesn't neccessarily look neat or pretty on the outside but when the package is opened a beautiful gift emerges. I love my family. Where I would be without them?