Family

When I was in college, my roommate was from the same town in which the school was located. Her entire extended family lived within 30 minutes of the college's confines and she went to Sunday dinner at her granny's every week. At first, I thought that was kind of weird. I mean, don't you go to college to escape your family's suffocating embraces and learn to live on your own? My freshman year, my roommate didn't immediately separate from her family while I, on the other hand, couldn't wait to get out there and start to live! I was independent and free! I was a woman of the world. (I did get to go to Granny's for Sunday lunch on occasion, and there was a reason that my roommate went every week. Macaroni and cheese. Homemade. That's all I'm going to say.)

I developed some close friendships as the year went on with some girls on the hall as well as with my roommate and we created our own sort of family that lasted throughout college. When I failed my piano jury, they were there to hug me and offer me leftover cake from a birthday party. When I was depressed and didn't know what to do with my major, they sat up late late late with me and talked about what I could do with my life. When I knew that I was making missteps with my spiritual life, they showed me the way I could be living my life. When I stayed up all night writing a paper on Benjamin Franklin (a book I did NOT read) and then lost it on my antiquated word processor, my roommate went to Kinko's with me at 4 in the morning so I could use the computers there and retype it. They are the reason I loved college so much and look back on it with (mostly) fond memories.

Now I live in a different state, far away from my biological family and most of my college family, with my husband and daughter. However, my husband's family lives nearby. They, too, have become my family. They are as close to me as my own parents and I love them dearly. I am so glad that Maggie has so many people who love her so much to care for her and teach her. As I sit here at my mother in law's house, updating my blog, while my husband is off at a football game, I can't help but think how thankful I am for all of my family members. They are the ones who I depend on, the ones who sometimes help me make it through the day.

Okay, the cheesiness overfloweth (and that sounded like a college essay) but I've been thinking about that for a while. So I will end with the fact that 1. if my co-worker across the hall does not stop playing "The Cha Cha Slide" on repeat during my planning period, I'm going to smash the CD over her head and 2. I had a hissy fit at the end of school when I was attempting to tape up an envelope to mail to our adoption agency for their calendar contest. My fit ended with me throwing a pair of scissors and a roll of packing tape in the garbage. Maggie better win that calendar contest.