My chosen family

So my amazing friend Melissa H will have a birthday on Wednesday so we took her out for her birthday. By we I mean the wonderful people who have become like family to me. A.F., S.F., J.H., N.H., R.M., M.M., M.R., J.R., C.T., D.T. and of course the birthday girl and her man M.H. and N.H.

We moved into our neighborhood in June 2006. We did not know anybody in the neighborhood. We didn't know anyone in Suffolk for that matter. My partner K and I bought a house together and blended our families to make one family. We were the only two mom family that we knew, and we were definitely the only blended two mom family we knew of. We met S and A (with their two adorable twins) for dinner, and then we knew another two mom blended family. They were well established in our neighborhood and we have always felt indebted to them for "paving the way" in our neighborhood and local Elementary school.

S. and A. invited us oi a party at their house, and through them we met MR. and JR., and JH and NH. They accepted us without question, and we felt like we were immediately accepted into their fold. Through J&N we met MH and NH when they moved back to the neighborhood, and through MR and JR we met MM and RM. AF and SF 's son M was friends with CT and DT's son T and our son B became friends with those two boys.

Through the get togethers at A&S's house a family was made. There are 7 families in this tight knit group, with a total of 21 children ranging in age from 18 to 3. We see each other at least monthly, usually to celebrate birthdays!

It started out as family gatherings where we always had all the children with us. However, the children have gotten older over the past four years, (as children do), and now the older ones can babysit for the younger ones, and we have started having outings with adults only.

These are the people I choose to share my life with, my children with. We laugh together and cry together. We are helping each other raise our children. We complain about our spouses and toast their accomplishments. Some of the friendships within the group span decades, and some are more recent, but whenever we get together it is a wonderful time filled with love and joy.

We are born into a family, which we do not get to choose, and they are our family for life. Most of them we love, some we do not, but we are stuck with them like it or not.

However, sometimes in life we are blessed with amazing friends who become our family and this is the family we choose. We surround ourselves with their love, compassion, wisdom, and sorrows. We swap recipes, hand me down clothing and sometimes our kids. We support each other through good times and bad, and we love each other enough to be honest, even when it hurts.

I am the most blessed because I have these amazing men and women in my life. Thank you Melissa, Nelson, Angie, Sammy, Joell, Neil, Rikki, Merle, Charlene, David, Mindy and Jay for sharing the journey with me. You all are amazing people, and I love you all tremendously!! And especially thank you to my beautiful K for being the most amazing, loving, considerate, thoughtful, forgiving, and wonderful person I could ever hope to share my life with!!