What is a family?

A few random thoughts and comments.

"The family. We were a strange little band of characters trudging through life sharing diseases and toothpaste, coveting one another's desserts, hiding shampoo, borrowing money, locking each other out of our rooms, inflicting pain and kissing to heal it in the same instant, loving, laughing, defending, and trying to figure out the common thread that bound us all together." ~Erma Bombeck
How many times have you stepped on your kid, or bumped them and knocked them over and then fixed it instantly with a kiss. And why is it that you can't buy that same stuff bottled? I have never applied a band-aid, a spray, or a cream that has ever cured ANYTHING as fast as a kiss can.

Lilo: "Ohana" means "family." "Family" means " NO ONE gets left behind."
Lilo was a smart kid... she loves Elvis and family. Seriously though, think about this statement, realize how we could change our own little world if we took it literally. No one gets left behind. We are all family and we are all here to help each other succeed.

A family is a unit composed not only of children but of men, women, an occasional animal, and the common cold. ~Ogden Nash
Trent found the "common cold" part funny; I actually laughed at the "occasional animal" part. Let me just slip in here that a new puppy is on the way. More about him in another blog.

You don't choose your family. They are God's gift to you, as you are to them. ~Desmond Tutu
At this very moment I am not sure if I am more proud to be the parents of my children or the children of my parents. But both ways, it worked out perfect for me!

*** I do have a new appreciation for the word family. Every time I say it or hear it, it rings louder and hits harder than ever before. I suppose it's like taking air for granted, it's not a big deal until you don't have any or you worry about the future of it. Some times we question our family or wonder how that person ever came from the same line (environmental or genetic). I thought this quote made it more clear:
We all grow up with the weight of history on us. Our ancestors dwell in the attics of our brains as they do in the spiraling chains of knowledge hidden in every cell of our bodies. ~Shirley Abbott

Call it a clan, call it a network, call it a tribe, call it a family. Whatever you call it, whoever you are, you need one. ~Jane Howard
I agree, and frankly, if you are out there and you need one of these "families", let me know, I'd be happy to have you (stalkers and unwanted lurkers excluded). I'd say if there is anything I learned from my family, it's that anyone can be part of the family if they really want to be, all you have to have are the guts to come on in!

Just a few final words for tonight. Love you all!
KamPossible


From dictionary.com...
Synonyms:
ancestry, ancestry. associated words: genealogist, brood, cadency, category, children, clan, class, cognomen, descendants, domesticity, dynasty, extended family, family tree, foris-familiate, genealogy, generation, gens, group, household, kin, kindred, kinsmen, line, lineage, menage, nepotic, nepotism, nuclear family, offspring, paternity, pedigree, progeny, relatives, tribe

Definitions:
–noun
1. parents and their children, considered as a group, whether dwelling together or not.
2. the children of one person or one couple collectively: We want a large family.
3. the spouse and children of one person: We're taking the family on vacation next week.
4. any group of persons closely related by blood, as parents, children, uncles, aunts, and cousins: to marry into a socially prominent family.
5. all those persons considered as descendants of a common progenitor.
6. Chiefly British. approved lineage, esp. noble, titled, famous, or wealthy ancestry: young men of family.
7. a group of persons who form a household under one head, including parents, children, and servants.
8. the staff, or body of assistants, of an official: the office family.
9. a group of related things or people: the family of romantic poets; the halogen family of elements.
10. a group of people who are generally not blood relations but who share common attitudes, interests, or goals and, frequently, live together: Many hippie communes of the sixties regarded themselves as families.
11. a group of products or product models made by the same manufacturer or producer.
12. Biology. the usual major subdivision of an order or suborder in the classification of plants, animals, fungi, etc., usually consisting of several genera.
13. Slang. a unit of the Mafia or Cosa Nostra operating in one area under a local leader.
14. Linguistics. the largest category into which languages related by common origin can be classified with certainty: Indo-European, Sino-Tibetan, and Austronesian are the most widely spoken families of languages. Compare stock (def. 12), subfamily (def. 2).
15. Mathematics.
a. a given class of solutions of the same basic equation, differing from one another only by the different values assigned to the constants in the equation.
b. a class of functions or the like defined by an expression containing a parameter.
c. a set.
–adjective
16.of, pertaining to, or characteristic of a family: a family trait.
17.belonging to or used by a family: a family automobile; a family room.
18. suitable or appropriate for adults and children: a family amusement park.
19. not containing obscene language: a family newspaper.
—Idiom
20.in a or the family way, pregnant.