—It is not [only] flesh and blood but the heart which makes us fathers and sons [and aunties and nieces]*. ~Johann Schiller
I am blessed.
I live in a fantastic place, surrounded by ocean and sky and the hum of the city. I have a life that some may call crazy and others a dream, and I love it. I have a tidy brain and a messy home, a faith in a God who is as real to me as the cat here on my lap. I have a family whom I love who are clever and funny, a little bit nuts but who all in all are utterly marvelous people who I am thrilled to call mine.
However. They live an ocean away.
THAT is the price I have paid for this life.
I have friends in Sydney and a network of people in a faith community commonly called ‘the church.’ This community extends far beyond any building and includes people all over who call my God theirs on whom I could call at any time. So, while I may be isolate from my blood, I am no island.
In fact, I am doubly blessed. For I, have been adopted.
It is at this point where I could trip over into dangerously sappy territory so I’m going to use this picture to speak its 1000 very own words (click to embiggen).
I have two families.
*parentheses mine…