I Finally Know What This Blog Is All About!

Family. Merriam Webster Online Dictionary defines family as:
1 a group of individuals living under one roof and usually under one head
2 a group of persons of common ancestry; a people or group of peoples regarded as deriving from a common stock
3 a group of people united by certain convictions or a common affiliation
4 a group of things related by common characteristics
5 the basic unit in society traditionally consisting of two parents rearing their children; any of various social units differing from but regarded as equivalent to the traditional family

A friend of mine stopped in to see me at work last week. In the course of the conversation she asked if I had sent out any emails in a while as she hadn't seen anything new in a while from me about Riley or how we were settling in here. I told her that I really hadn't sent anything out a mass email to people but was doing a blog instead. She asked me what the focus of it was and I didn't have an answer. I said I usually just write about whatever comes to mind... if it comes to mind.

This was last Thursday and I've thought about it since then and looked back over some of my earlier blog postings or at least the headlines. I think I know what my focus is and has been all along. It's about family. It's about the ones we're born into. It's about the ones we marry into. And it's about the ones we create.

I have the family I was born with. It's not in any way perfect. But there it is. Two brothers whom I admire for the way they have managed to make something out of the cards they were dealt from an early age, but I hardly ever see them. A mother who did the best she could with what she had in raising three boys on her own after the death of my father and that I've not heard from in over 8 months now. Plus numerous aunts, uncles and cousins that I absolutely love and adore (their stories I'll share as time goes on.)

I have Robbie's family that I married into. I can't say enough about his parents. They are true Christians who love unconditionally and never judge. If they could be cloned, I could corner the market on good parents. Robbie has three brother, one sister, and their spouses who have never once made me feel any less a part of the family than anyone else. And as I've said before, they can be loud and disagree with each other, but they also love just with just as much enthusiasm. I'm truly blessed to be a part of all that.

I have the family that Robbie and I created through our marriage and our adoption of Riley. We moved back to what we consider our home town to raise our daughter. This is the place we met, the place we married, and the place where we decided that we wanted to be fathers together. Hopefully, by being here in Indianapolis, we also change a few minds about what makes a family.

And I have a family of loosely associated friends from all over the country that are more precious to me than anything else in this world. We might not have a drop of blood common amongst us, but we are tighter than most families and just as important to each other - if not more so. If any of us are able to help the other, we do. It may just be a word of support, a comforting note, a funny email or a quick phone call, we're there for each other. But we because of them, we know that we matter in this world. I think that's all anyone really wants... To know that they matter, that their presence in this world makes a difference to someone out there.