Family

Brace yourself... There is no quick wit or funny in this blog posting...

I wholey believe in the importance of family and of keeping them close to your heart. There are times when I become very emotional about my own family because I know how truely blessed I am to have people like that in my life. I know people who have wonderful families who don't give thanks for them, and I know others who have no family and are struggling without them. And of course I know people who do give thanks for the people that they are blessed to have in their lives.

I love talking about my family. They are my core and my happiness. I am the person that I am today because of their influences on me. My dad is my everything. Never have I met such a strong man. I am not a really emotional person, but my dad was my rock growing up. I know I often butted heads, but I always looked to him for approval. And lucky me, he gave it. I am lucky that he supports me in everything I choose to do. I'm a daddy's girl, even though I choose to hold the independent, country girl image. My mom died when I was very young. And not a day goes by that I don't wonder who I would be if she were still around. But God gave me new life in my stepmother. If I butted heads with anybody growing up, it was her the most. But what I didn't understand at the time was that this wasn't her first rodeo, and that she'd already successfully raised 2 daughters of her own. My antics were nothing new to her... I think. I hope. She did an amazing job. I love my parents. They enforced the rules. They made us do our homework. grounded us when we pushed the limits. They made us come in at 5:30 every evening to have a family dinner. Which I never appreciated at the time... But I look at these families who don't live that way and I feel myself becoming sad for them. Because now I would love to be able to sit down with my entire family every night and talk about my day, and listen to theirs.

I was blessed with a whole bunch of sisters. I always wanted a brother. But now my beautiful sisters have men who I look to as brothers. My sisters are my best friends. My baby sister is my soul mate. My half sister is my inspiration. My step sisters are my idols. And their half sisters are just cool. Growing up I pretended that I didnt like any of them. But I think fighting comes naturally for sibling girls. Now I can't imagine my life without them.

My grandparents, my aunts and my uncles and my cousins. There are so many of them. I love them all so much. I laugh when I am with them, and I cry when I have to part with them. My best memories of my entire life revolve around my family.

I am also blessed to be marrying a man who has a large family, a family who is as tightly knit as my own. I will have a mother in law who I adore. A father in law who almost always makes me laugh without even trying. A sister who is also my best friend and the brother that I never had. I will always have somebody there for me.

Whew, I got through that whole thing without even welling up. Okay, without crying. Okay, without bawling my eyes out. But I only welled up a few times... I hope you will give thanks for those you have around you. And that's all the emotion you will get from me on a Tuesday.