My last couple weekends have been spent in the home of my childhood. An amazing woman passed away and another amazing woman is expecting twins and I was brought back to celebrate life in all respects.
It got me thinking about family. I never really realized how far the word "family" extends for me. Two weekends ago I had a birthday meal at the family home of two of my ex-boyfriends. They're brothers. And it sounds weird and it breaks all the rules, and believe me, it sounds even weirder if you know all the other connections and rules that have been broken and blurred, but what it really boils down to is that some people come into your life and that's that. You're in their life and they're in yours, and life is better that way. That family is family to me. I adore them all so much. And when those twins are born (the ones inside the belly of my best friend in the world, the friend who is married to one of the abovementioned exes) I will be as excited as if they shared my blood. All of those people in that family share my heart.
And at the funeral, at the celebration of life, I saw more family. Women and men who saw me grow up, and still pray for me on a regular basis. These are people with whom it's okay to just pick up where we left off. It reminded me of how rich my life is. Oh, how easy it is to forget, in the drudgery of the day to day, how many beautiful people I know and love... Let me not forget again soon...
Next weekend is Easter. I have no real Easter plans to speak of, and I'm thinking of going back home. It's strange, because that city stopped being "home" for me about four years ago; and all of a sudden, my heart is right back in the middle of it.
Don't get me wrong: this is home too. This is who I am right now, and I am so happy here. But it's strange to once again feel ties to another place. I feel connected in a very tangible way to a life from which I thought I had somewhat separated myself.
I think, maybe, that once a place is home, once a person is family, a part of you is claimed forever... in the nicest of ways...
