Family.
This word has taken on many meanings for me over the course of my short but sweet life. For the longest time I defined as I think many would, based on blood and marriage and last names. As I grew older I expanded this definition to include friends and their families who I interacted with the way I did with my family. In the last 5 or 6 years it has come to mean more than that.
Sometimes there are just things, experiences, that bond us more than words can really describe. I have been through a few of these, a devastating accident that rocked my young life, my summer camp family that saved me, the girls and select gentlemen who I grew with at lululemon, and most recently the emerging little family that are trying to pull through this program together. It hit home hard tonight. I walked into the place I had worked this summer at what was no where near the end of what is stacking up to be a very long day. Though not extraordinary in length of time worked I felt a sense of homecoming tonight. It was amplified as my massage therapist and lovely friend filled me in on what was going on at the studio. One of the most beloved employees was sick, more sick than I think any of us knew or maybe wanted to admit. Though I was really only there for 5 weeks it struck a cord. So many of us are far from home, because of ease of travel and how amazingly accessible our world is, our families are scattered and so we look to each other to build new versions. It takes a startling amount of vulnerability coupled with easily as much strength to reach out and rely on those around us.
I am finding this more daily and am blessed to have so much family around who are in no way related (I am lucky enough also to have one rad sister here). As much as it is scary as hell to show weakness, to seem to need something, especially help, at the end of the day that is why we are here. We are here to connect to people, most of the time we are all just going through the same thing or have been or will do. It's ok to lean a little. It's ok to love and to let people in. It's ok to find family in unlikely places.
This word has taken on many meanings for me over the course of my short but sweet life. For the longest time I defined as I think many would, based on blood and marriage and last names. As I grew older I expanded this definition to include friends and their families who I interacted with the way I did with my family. In the last 5 or 6 years it has come to mean more than that.
Sometimes there are just things, experiences, that bond us more than words can really describe. I have been through a few of these, a devastating accident that rocked my young life, my summer camp family that saved me, the girls and select gentlemen who I grew with at lululemon, and most recently the emerging little family that are trying to pull through this program together. It hit home hard tonight. I walked into the place I had worked this summer at what was no where near the end of what is stacking up to be a very long day. Though not extraordinary in length of time worked I felt a sense of homecoming tonight. It was amplified as my massage therapist and lovely friend filled me in on what was going on at the studio. One of the most beloved employees was sick, more sick than I think any of us knew or maybe wanted to admit. Though I was really only there for 5 weeks it struck a cord. So many of us are far from home, because of ease of travel and how amazingly accessible our world is, our families are scattered and so we look to each other to build new versions. It takes a startling amount of vulnerability coupled with easily as much strength to reach out and rely on those around us.
I am finding this more daily and am blessed to have so much family around who are in no way related (I am lucky enough also to have one rad sister here). As much as it is scary as hell to show weakness, to seem to need something, especially help, at the end of the day that is why we are here. We are here to connect to people, most of the time we are all just going through the same thing or have been or will do. It's ok to lean a little. It's ok to love and to let people in. It's ok to find family in unlikely places.
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