Family Stuff

I've been doing a lot of family stuff lately.  My cousins have been busy with sports and I've been in the stands cheering them on.  It's been a lot of fun and I've been taking lots of pictures.  That's why I haven't been doing Picture Sundays because I've been busy taking photos of my cousins.  I hope to get going with my other photography soon.  I'm a huge fan of outdoor photography and there hasn't been a lot to photograph lately outside.  There are no flowers, no pretty trees, and even no snow.  Just blah.  Hopefully spring will get here soon!

I was really lucky and got to hang out with one of my uncles this past weekend.  I haven't seen him as much lately so it was a lot of fun to watch Saturday Night Live with him and play with his dog.  We had some good laughs and caught up.  My uncle was there for me as a kid a lot and stepped up to teach me about sports when I showed an interest.

I also got to spend some time with Rudy's family this weekend too, which is always a lot of fun.  It's so cool to see another family's dynamic and to sort of find a way to fit in.  His family is awesome and it's great that I got to hang out with them for a bit.  It's very interesting for several reasons.

For starters, I'm not like the people in my adoptive family.  Sure, we have a few similarities.  But because I'm supposed to be "one of them", the differences are glaring.  Out of the twenty-three cousins on one side, I think three of us have dark hair.  And the other two are very young and weren't around when I was growing up.  I have a different skill set, and I act differently than my adoptive family.  My adoptive family is amazing and I wish I could be more like them at times.  It's taken a lot for me to realize that it's OK to be different.  Now I'm slowly learning how to embrace the differences and to love myself for my uniqueness in my family.  I'm not the only unique one and I'm learning to love it.

Now, when it comes to Rudy's family, I'm not expected to be like them.  I'm not "one of them" in the sense that I am supposed to fit in immediately into the family.  They get that I'm different, that I have another set of genes, that I'm not supposed to act as if "born to" them.  Instead, they expect me to be different, to act differently, and to think differently.  There's no pressure.  I like them a lot, they like me, and we get along really well.  I don't have to "fit in" and when I do, it's even better.  We share a lot of laughs and good times.  And at the end of the day, I usually leave smiling (except when my team blows a big game, but we're not going to go there, and that has nothing to do with Rudy's family).

It's interesting to see how that all comes into play.  Rudy's family is a lot like my adoptive family in certain ways and its been fantastic for me to be around that without any added pressure.  It makes for a nice visit when we manage to make it up to see them.