Family

We had a great time yesterday at Don's birthday. I had invited myself because I felt so comfortable with this bunch of in-laws. I like them all!

My niece wrote a comment on my last blog saying in essence that, with our family, we welcome everyone with open arms whether they are family or not. It isn't always that way with every family but it is with ours. You are welcome as long as you do no harm.

I can think of a few people we welcomed into our family fold that we discovered later were pariahs. This has rarely happened so it hasn't soured us in any way about drawing newcomers in. In fact, it's the newcomers who season the pot and keep family gatherings interesting. It goes without saying that baby newcomers are greeted with special reverence.

With every newcomer to the family comes a whole new batch of in-laws, all widening our family pool of characters. When in a large group of this extended family, I sometimes have a hard time describing my own relationship to them but it doesn't really matter. They are "family" in one way or another.

When I'm in Florida I'm mainly surrounded by people who are not in any way related to me but have become such good friends that I wish they were. We do become a family of sorts because we hang out with each other constantly. This is another example of how we expand our family by regularly welcoming newcomers. It's infinite.

It's a big world out there, full of interesting and darned nice people. Marry into the family or just walk into it...you're welcome!