Family and Friends

I've been thinking about family lately. I had dinner with a cousin of mine the other night and just thought how thankful I am that I get to know her as a person and a friend and then in addition be happy that she's related to me.

But with so much of my family, that is not the case. I love them because they're mine--my brother or my cousin or my aunt or uncle...but so very rarely because they are who they are--because they're sensitive, or artistic or insightful or witty--these things so often get overlooked in our family, when these very qualities would be sought for in friends.

And even more seriously, I find that I tend to overlook common courtesy when it comes to my family. How often do I neglect my family or ignore them or fail to stay in touch, when I would never dream of treating friends that way?

Ironically, when we do these things to family because we've taken them for granted for so long, we lose the chance to see those qualities that might make them friends as well.

This weekend, my brother is celebrating his marriage to his wife by holding the ceremony and reception that they didn't have when they got married five years ago. Our families--hers and ours, of course, will come together...but more poignantly, family from both sides of my own family will be in the same room--for the first time in almost 30 years. Those of you who have any experience with divorced parents can understand what a momentous occasion this will be.

I'm hoping to take time to talk to folks--those related to me and those not, so I can be blessed by the wonders that can be found in people---related by blood or by heart.