blood may be thicker than water, but love is thicker than anything.
my family today are people i have CHOSEN to be in my life. there are folks unrelated to me by blood who i consider to be true brothers, a true sister, a true uncle, etc.
there are people who are my "blood relatives" to whom i've not spoken in over a decade, and if i have any say so over it, can go happily to my grave without ever interacting with again.
take the bulger family of south boston -- one brother got to be president of the U of Mass. the other, whitey bulger, is the on-the-run leader of the winter hill gange, part of the irish mafia in that city and wanted for several murders there. the two are as different as night and day, and if whitey was my brother i'd want nothing to do with him.
no thanks. we're given a group of people to call family, and sometimes it works out that you like and even love them. sometimes, eh, not so much. my love, energy and feelings of familial obligations went with my parents -- and i had to work hard at truly getting to know and love them, too. now i choose who i will call "family." i've never been happier.
