This weekend we drove a grand total of 600 miles, the whole family together in a van with the puppy dog. I only drove about a quarter of the way, so there was an awful lot of time to sit and look out the window.
Looking around me I saw family. My whole family? Well, not technically, but that is OK. My kiddos and my husband make the core of our little family.
Back to the idea of family. What is family to you? Is it just your husband and kids, or does it include your parents or in-laws? I suspect that everyone has a slightly different definition. But is the definition you think of when someone asks about family, really what family means?
I think that family can be a fluctuating thing. New people are born into your family and others pass away. There are new members who marry your children and sometimes you even adopt a child.
No matter how much family might change there is a constant, meaning to family. It is a way that you can recognize your family versus the one across the street. It is built on traditions and culture and faith that you and your husband share together and with your children.
Most of the time when you hear the word culture you think of something common to a large group, like in a country or a state or a region. But your little family group creates its own culture, your’s and your husband’s. Together.
I think that is really what family means: together. Together you live and grow and laugh and love. Together.