Family

Had some thoughts while walking to work today, and decided I would share some of my feelings about family.

So... Family (said in a McKay sort of way, i.e. unstructured rant is forthcoming).

Basically, my folks are moving to Chicago in a week. This isn't a bad thing at all, but its starting to really hit me. Not that I won't have my parents around, but because I won't really have any family around.

Let me explain -- I have lots of aunts and uncles, more cousins than I can count (actually I could if I wanted)... etc. Problem is that I've only seen them a handful of times in my life. On top of that, most of them have such radically different lifes than me that it is very hard to relate. This distance can be seen in who attended my wedding. Out of most of the family, I think I'm one of the first to get married out of the cousins w/o children already being an issue. Yet, only my immediate family and my grandparents came. Invitations went out to others, but nonetheless, that was it. (and even moreso -- family that will read this blog are most likely either or both of my siblings, and my dad).

This is in stark contrast to Marcy's family. She is #12 of 13 siblings, and both her parents have big families. She has tons and tons of cousins, aunts, uncles, etc. There are so many ppl in her family that its overwhelming... so many its hard to get to know them! (Ironically, the left half of the church was packed with siblings, cousins, and other relatives of Marcy.) So like, I go over to her house, and am lucky to say hi to most of the ppl there, wheras if she comes over to mine, 2 parents, 2 siblings.

Because of how small my family is, we are all very close. So what is frustrating is that my family already feels real small, because I'm so distant from so much of it. And now, w/ my folks and sister moving east, I fear the distance that will naturally occur there. Now my "family" is Marcy and Stephen. I almost want to extend the definition of family for myself to include close friends from school and church.

Anyway, all this to say -- despite differences, frustrations, etc., I'm beginning to realize the importance of cherishing family and building close bonds. Hopefully this loss will motivate me to grow closer to my new family, (i.e. Marcy's family).