A recent post by a dear blogger friend got me thinking about my family and the fact that to some people we may be a bit of a unique and unconventional example of what family is. I've wanted to do a post about my family for a while now and felt a bit of a jump start after reading the above mentioned post.
For me when I say the word family, it has such a broad meaning. Of course I have the family I grew up with, a mom, dad and two sisters but so much has changed since I was a little one that really I can't categorize my family into a general term or definition.
Instead I will simply tell you who my family is.
In my family we are a mix of many ethnicities. Filipino, Italian, Irish, Lebanese, Ecuadorian, Jamaican, First Nations, African Canadian, Senegalese a real Canadian mix. We are of so many backgrounds that it looks like a United Nations conference when we are together.
In my family we are a mix of different religions. Christian, Muslim, Buddhist, Aboriginal Beliefs, and Atheist beliefs.
In my family we have people of different sexual orientations. Gay and straight.
In my family we have parents and step parents, siblings and step siblings, nephews and one niece (sorry Mimi- you are still the only girl), grand parents, great grandparents, aunts and great aunts, uncles and great uncles, cousins and second cousins, inlaws, family that is "blood family"and family that is "honourary family"....it goes on and on.
I truly and deeply feel blessed to have my beautiful and colourful family. So many different backgrounds, experiences, cultures, beliefs and we all get along. I think this is a true reflection of the values of my country, Canada. I am not trying to say that my country is perfect, far from it. We have a lot of work to do on a global scale and here at home, but in recent history (the early 80s and on) we have made great strides to make our country one that treats every person equal. And so I truly feel that my family reflects the world as it is today. A world that really isn't that big, one where people from all walks of life live together.
And there you have it. A little bit about who I am. Who my family is. And really, family is everything isn't it?
I often talk about how there's my family, blood relatives and what not -- and then, perhaps even more importantly, there's my chosen family: my partner, my friends, my loved ones.
ReplyDeleteMy actual family is VERY small - my mother, grand mother and great grandmother all live here in town. There's 5 generations of us women kicking around, which is really nice actually.
When it comes to my chosen family, they are very dear to my heart -- my partner is by my side, my best friends are fiercely loyal and absolutely loving. I'd be lost without them.
Also, now that I've been blogging for a while I feel a different family coming on -- this online community is so supportive and loving in its own very unique way and I'm coming to really enjoy its presence.
I'm definitely feeling the love!
Isn't "family" an interesting idea? I love that for each person it means something so different. It's true that so often it's the people that we choose to surround ourselves with that really become family.
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