Sure, you can be family too!

I have recently discovered that I have a very skewed idea of family.  Some people claim that their friends are their family, but they don’t really mean it.  They are close to their friends, but they don’t feel the same way they feel about their friends as they do with their flesh and blood.

Growing up, strangers could have been my flesh and blood.  I never knew who was my family member and for all I knew my friends and I could somehow be related.  I didn’t view family as biological, I viewed it more as a group of people who loved and cared for each other.  I didn’t see things the same way that others did, and I guess I probably never will.  I never got the whole “protect the family” thing either.  To me, everyone was the same, family or strangers, because to me there was really no difference.

I’m living with a family this year as a border, and they’ve become my school family.  They care about me and I care about them.  We watch out for each other and we respect each other as we live under the same roof.  I get asked about my living situation all the time (it’s not the norm) and when I describe my “school family” they look at me funny.  I’ve figured out it’s because I’ve used the term family.  To me, it isn’t a big deal because of where I come from, mainly the big question mark.  While my question mark is slowly being cleared up, there’s still a lot I don’t know.

I still have yet to meet anyone in my natural family.  I have lots of cousins out there, aunts and uncles, and three grandparents that are still alive.  Not to mention two sisters and two parents.  Maybe someday I will get that opportunity, but for now, I’m going to continue with my warped sense of family and maybe I’m better for it.