My tribe

This is my favorite picture from the Thanksgiving week.

This photo....these people....are the pillars that stand tall when you dig to my very depth. Sure, a hot husband and two sweet kids have joined the ranks but they weren't there originally.

These people were.

You know what's cool about my family? We aren't stuck. I know some stuck people. And I find them hard to be around. (Definition of stuck people....those people who freeze you at a certain point and keep you there. Those people who may have known you years ago, or even yesterday, when you were different, even if just slightly, who want to keep you stunted, in that place that you've outgrown. Evolution to stuck people is something that apparently only happened once - when the first ape developed a thumb.)

On my family's last night, we all sat around drinking and eating. We asked questions of one another. What book would you cling to if you were only allowed one on a deserted island? What cd would you bring if you could only bring one to that same island? What would you do if you didn't have to work? What celebrity would play you in your life movie? Essentially, we were asking one another, Who are you? What moves you? What makes you tick?

And you know? Not a single one of us said, "That doesn't sound like you" or "I wouldn't have picked that for you" or a snotty "Since when?" Instead, we all listened - earnestly - eagerly, and sat kind of transfixed by each other's choices.

(And seriously....Blythe Danner playing my mother in her life movie? Brilliant choice Mom.)

This is my family. Totally accepting of change. Willing to embrace one another.

I wrote in my last post that we were all heavy hearted when the reunion ended.

I actually cried. I admit it. I did.