Growing Pains

And there we shall wade through troubled waters holding on to each other...

I was always sure I knew what it meant to have a family. Absolutely certain about my concepts of what made up one, and never really thought the need to be critical.

I believed that family was the unit one borns into: your brothers and sisters, Mums and Dads, and so forth. Many a times I have voiced my feelings about the temporariness of friendship, and how it never appears to stick through when you really need it to; and that how always, placing great emphasis on the word, your family does. Like a buffer that breaks your fall. Recurring.

I liked my friends (and still do - well some of them, anyway), but felt the need to withdraw myself from their company. While I was with family, I did not need anyone else.

But then, something unusual happened; I learnt some very valuable lessons about this world. And its people.

I found myself watching a blow-by-blow account of the rescue of Chilean miners trapped deep underground.

I heard stories of orphans working as a team to sail through reality shows.

And I had my own crap to boast about, as well.

All of it, challenged my views of family...

I realised, a family does not need to have brothers and sisters, or Mums and Dads to complete it. In fact, you do not even need to be formally related to start a family of your own.

Anybody can have a family. Everybody can find a family.

All one needs to do, is share. Share experiences. Moments. Memories.

A family is anything that feels the pain you feel. That cries when you cry. That smiles when you smile. And still manages to catch you every time you trip over and fall.

A family is beyond words and complicated relationships. It is beyond begetting and having begotten.

It is simply a feeling. Of belonging. Of love. Of togetherness...

Yes, anybody can have a family. Everybody can find a family.

He found me one, too.