4th of July

Ever since my grandma died we haven't gotten together much with our extended family -- it's almost like she was the glue that held us together.  That has really broken my heart.  So this year when we had the opportunity to get together for the 4th of July I was really excited. 

My cousin Angela is living with her family on my grandparent's farm, and I hadn't been out there since they moved in two-ish years ago.  I was a little bit nervous that it would be completely different and that it wouldn't feel like Grandma's House anymore (you know that feeling) but that wasn't the case at all.  It was actually really good to see someone living there and taking care of it.  I think Grandma Glo would be glad to know that there are kids running around making noise and having a good time in her house.

We ate and talked and I took every opportunity to torture my cousin Josh (he needs it, punk) and played with kittens and played games and generally had a good time.  I was sitting outside thinking how great it was to have family filled with such neat people when it occurred to me that I wasn't really related to half of the people there.  Dad's extended cousins and various people who have married into the family don't really share any blood with me.  And then it struck me: isn't the even better thing about family that oftentimes we get to choose our family? 

Mom told me one time that she loved my grandma Glo because Grandma chose to love her first.  You can be related to someone and still not be family, and I know for certain that I have family that shares no blood or marriage ties with me.  Though I have a wonderful family in the traditional sense of the word, I have also been lucky enough to have found family throughout my life, at school and, yes, even at work.  Family are the people you choose to love, the people you choose to hurt with and over, the people you choose to rejoice with.  Aren't we lucky to be able to choose?

As I get ready to become a stranger in a strange land I do wonder if I will find any family members in Boston.  Will I fit in?  Will I be understood?  But I get to choose, and I know God will take care of me as he has in the past -- "For the Lord is good.  His unfailing love continues forever, and his faithfulness continues to each generation."  I can't really ask for more than that.