Family

Family...the place where a person belongs, for most people.  Some people have to make their own family, whether it is having a spouse/significant other and children, or a close group of friends...it is the place where they come to belong.

I belong...

There is my blood family.  My grandparents and Daddy have died, but I am lucky enough to still have the rest of my family here.  My Mom, three brothers, a sister, a sister in law, a brother in law, three handsome nephews and two beautiful nieces.  I have three uncles, three aunts and a truckload of cousins.  I love every one of them with all of my heart.  We don't always get along, believe me!  Sometimes it takes a lot of courage for me to go to a family get together, because I am the odd one of the family.  For the most part, I'm kinda proud of that.  It has caused some real problems in the past, though.  They have finally learned that I am always going to be myself, a person apart from them.  My identity no longer hinges on what they think of me.  That was a big change, a very big change, I made for myself.  Now, I try to have fun with being different from them.  Makes for some entertaining meals...LOL!!!  Well, entertaining for me at least.

You have all read my introductions of my Redneck Sisterhood.  They are my best friends here at home.  Several live a little distance away, but when we can get together with everyone else in the crew, we have a blast.  They pick me up and dust me off when I need it.  They have been known to kick my ass a time or two.  They are beautiful, funny and very important to my existence.  Even the blood family that is a part of that group has realized that in my element, I am a world apart from everyone else out there.  I will sit back and quietly watch as they all joke and laugh, knowing that I was the key to bringing them all together.  It is an interesting sense of power.

There is another family that I am proud to say I belong to...the Rybacker family.  Don't laugh!  It's not just me that has a little obsession for the Beast from Sin City.  There's over a half a million on Twitter alone that follow him, talk about him, share pictures of him and wait impatiently for each tweet or interview post.  Not that I have become friends with 600k fans...by no means at all.  There is that little group that I've written about before...and they have each brought so much to my mundane existence.  I enjoy my conversations with them.  They have made me laugh, tolerated my bad moods, my 'Eeyore' like behavior, and listened to my advice.  They keep me entertained and make me feel needed, like only friends can.  It doesn't matter to me that our contact is strictly via technology.  There are days when the friendships I have developed with them are more real than the friendships I have with those nearby.  They talk to me and I can talk to them.  I can't say that about the RS (w/exception to one) all the time and I definitely can't talk to my family about most things, even to this day.  I must shout out to my Sisters and my Brutha (as he puts it).  They all mean the world to me, and hopefully at some point I will get to give them the honest to goodness hugs they truly deserve.

Yes, I belong and I am better for it.  I will always fight feeling lonely at times but I know I have FAMILY I can turn to when it gets really bad.  And I love them all because of that.