Tuesday, August 30, 2011

If your life was a book title, what would it be?


 If my life has to be categorized by a book title, several of my acquaintances, and maybe even Mama (my Wife Carol), will tell you the title should be “The Jerk”.  I am pretty sure that was a movie though, not a book, so I am safe.
     If I were to choose a book title to signify something about my life, I guess it would be “One Big Wacky Family”.  I chose that one, not because of the content of the book, but because the title stuck with me.
     To a lot of folks, we have a big family. We raised 4 kids, and have 9 grandkids so far, not counting the adorable little doggies our youngest calls her “kids”. Pretty big family, right?  Now, wacky….yeah, we have our wacky or silly moments, and with all those kids and grandkids, there are several of those, but you will have to take my word for it though.    
      What makes "One Big Wacky Family" important is the phrase itself. To me, it signifies unity, no matter what the circumstances. You see, when I married Carol she already had two beautiful daughters. When I thought about how to handle a future with these kids, and possible additions to the family, I remembered my Dad, and followed his example. 
     Biologically, my Dad has 2 brothers, one half brother, and 2 half sisters.  The thing is, in all my years on this planet, I have never, ever, heard my father refer to his siblings as “Half” anything. To him, they are Brothers, or Sisters, period.  I always thought that was the best mindset.  Focus on the similarities, and ignore the differences.  
     So, as Carol and I began our life together, and added 2 more daughters to the family, the key was to love all of them the same, see all of them the same, as daughters.  Mama and I always refer to them all with the same pronouns, without fail.  All 4 are “your daughter”,  or “your sister”.  No “Step” or “Half” is allowed in our home. The same applies to grandkids. Some are biologically related to Mama, but not me. Some are related to both.  One is related to neither.  So what?  I love them all the same, which is too much to measure.  To hell with Biology.   Yep, it doesn’t matter how we got here, we are all one.  One Big, Wacky Family. 

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