I feel the need to explain my last post, not because my readers misunderstood or that I wrote wrong. It's because the people most important to me did.
My parents did an amazing thing in raising the four of us. They managed to raise 4 individuals who are themselves. We all grew to be very different people.
In being different people in different families, we will bicker and argue. We will defend the parts of us that developed outside the nucleus that we were raised in.
Regardless, I have a rare group. I would not be who I am or where I am without them. I was able to jump into a marriage and take a chance at life because I had them to fall back on. At no point in my life have I felt that I was taking a leap. Of course I was, but I have ALWAYS had someone, someones, to catch me.
As pointed out by a sister-in-law, it's a rare thing to be able to say that.
At any and every point in my life, I have had not one but 6 direct people to reach out to. Luckily for me, in marriage, I gained 3 more.
I have the benefit of being able to miss my life in Rio. I do. Saying my life there is pretty damn good is the understatement of the year.
But every day, every day, I miss them. I miss every single one of my family. I think of them. Something happens and one or the other pops into my head. It may be something one would enjoy. Or it could be how much I would love to take my nieces to see something. It could just be traveling down memory lane.
The thing is, I have the perfect excuse to miss these reunions. I live far away and spend a small fortune to come. We couldn't afford to come here this year... any year. But we did. We did because it is a priority. I will take one good day and bad one. That's still a trip worth having.
It's true that you don't pick your family. But I pick mine. I always have and I always will. That is one point in my marriage where we agree. Family is family and nothing can replace it. It is unconditional.
And I am lucky because mine is...
Well, I hope so anyway!
