Family 'n stuff

A suggested theme for this round of posts is "holidays" because we all mostly are posting during the holiday season. I recently completed an self-disciple-exercise called "No-Spend-November" to help myself become aware of my own consumerism (no, I don't NEED to buy coffee every other day). It was a good time and in light of Black Friday, I have a lot to say about this...but instead, I'm changing tracks. I want to talk about all these holidays and the idea of family. Awww...how cute....and rather corny (you've been warned).

So...recently, we had my FAVORITE holiday...Halloween...and then my second favorite holiday; Thanksgiving. Both were good fun. I got to teach about detrital energy sources while wearing a pirate costume for the former, and eat pumpkin soup for the later....and for both, I got to hang out with two really cool people named Andrew and Emma (they're both pretty much walking vats of knowledge ...and we're in an almond-themed cult together).

The next holiday to come is Christmas. I've never liked Christmas that much, really. It's this happy time of year for family traditions and overall joy, right? Well...post-Halloween, the holidays shift from being spooky-fun to an emphasis on this idea of "family" and that is the part I was never too comfortable with.

Growing up, I went through weird different permutations of "family". Throughout most of my life, my family consisted of my Mom, my Stepdad, my Step Brother, my Step Sister (both of which are half siblings of each other, each have a few other siblings - just to make it more complicated), for some time a Dad....and occasionally a Stepmom who didn't really speak English....and sometimes I went and stayed with a completely different family altogether. Christmas was a time of "who-got-which-step-sibling", and with so many parents thrown in the mix, it was always a jumble....with a lot of tension and the pressure to put on a happy face. I didn't like it.

This is Devon, my Step Brother and Mandi my Step Sister. We continued sharing Christmas together for some time and I'm just as thankful for them as I am everyone else mentioned...

When I graduated high school, my weird concoction of "family" literally dissolved in a divorce. I jumped from  this scenario into Houghton (technically I hobbled---my foot was broken at the time). As you can see by this blog, I made the very best of friends there...and over the four years, I've gained the very best of family through these people. They have shown me everything about being supportive and kind, generous and share-y...and of course a lot about faithy-stuff (did you know that K-Tunez is the Tribal Chaplin....Chappy).

This is my Mommy

Last Christmas, was the first Christmas of just me and my Mom....all by ourselves because this is what was left from our situation. It was peaceful and wonderful, but she made the observation that we were our only family - it was just us. Her and me....and the morbidly obese cats and a deaf chihuahua mutt. But then she said that we had both been able to craft our own families out of our friends and that was way better than anything we could possibly have had otherwise.

So, in the spirit of Thanksgiving....and in the reference to the family-ness of Christmas, I'd like to give thanks for my very-very special and perfect Family.
I'm thankful for my wonderful....and kind of weird....Mom, who I am so fortunate to have (I get to go home for this Christmas too!!! Yay, New York!).

I am thankful for my first roomie and closest-to-a-sisterly-thing Jackie...for my other Amazon Sistas; Anya, Jenny, K-Tunez and 9-Fingered Lane. For Tribe Brother Chris.....and all the other Tribespeople who will be guest-blogging  in the posts to come. I'm thankful for how each of them is passionate about the world we live in and how they inspire me to be a better person.

...and I'm thankful for their
forgiveness when I
steal the brownie mix.

I'm thankful for their patience for when I'm frustrated or obnoxious...I'm thankful for when I log into facebook and have a constant stream of reminders of how cool they are. I'm thankful that I can send them a whining message and get responses brimming with hilarity and support. I'm thankful that they like me for being me, when most people think I'm a bit strange. Below is a link to a video-hodge-podge of Guruji Sri Vast ("an enlightened spiritual master from South India" - I'm not sure what that is, but he has something good to say here) discussing family. Some of the video clips used it in are a bit corny and unnecessary, but I like the part where he says: 

                                "What is family? 
                                                       Love and acceptance. 
                                                      Where I can be, as I am. 
                                                    Where I am not judged. 
                                                       And that is the family."


Also, I'm thankful that my family keeps growing....remember Andrew and Emma from the beginning of this post? Our Thanksgiving feast was lovely and delicious (Emma somehow manages to be both 100% Snake Conjurer and 100% Chef). I'm thankful they both let me stumble into their lives and that they put up with my shenanigans.

This is Andrew and Emma.
They're both opposed to have pictures taken of themselves.
The big plant in the foreground is a sunflower...because Kansas is the Sunflower State!

And so...I'd like to conclude with the point that your family isn't just who biology or marriage brought into your life, but who you choose to build friendships with.

Your family is probably bigger than you realized.

That's all I really have to say. My family is fantastic and I love you all lots and lots. And now...time to cram for finals exams. Boo. Finals are not included in my family. 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Z3tKh1olYRI