Family Isn't Always Blood

Family isn't always blood. Sometimes it's just someone, a friend who you can just trust more than anyone else, and is always there for you when you really need them to be. This is something I have learned over the past year, and it's made me value who is really in my life and who I can rely on for anything.

I mean, I do have some family that I can always go to. Like my mom, who I know will always pick me up whenever I fall, and a few other family members that I know I can count on. But throughout this past year, there was someone else who came into my life and helped me see that there is someone outside of my family that I can always go to, whenever I am unhappy or just need to get away from all my stress...

When I got married to my husband, I thought that I was going to be getting close to my sister-in-law, since we have gotten along so well before when my husband and I were just dating. So, when we moved into the apartment along with our baby, I thought that maybe there would be some sort of friendship going on between us. But, I was wrong, since she is still a little young and likes to go out and party, and isn't ready for any sort of responsibility that her brother and I have come upon since we had a baby together. But, there was someone else that came into my life that I wasn't expecting, and has been closer to me than anyone.

She is my husband's cousin's daughter (second cousin). She is around the age of my sister-in-law, but has gained more responsibilities since she moved from Pennsylvania with her mom and brother. She has a past that she has been working on always moving forward from, and I admire her. She is a strong-willed woman who has gone through a lot in her life, but she is moving forward and always looking for the next best thing in her life.

My husband's cousin and I have gotten really close, to the point where we talk everyday and talk to each other about everything. I trust her with my life, and she can trust me with hers.

Whenever I am going through something, whether it's at home or with school or work, she is always there to listen to me, and welcomes me to her home and tells me that I can always stay there whenever I just need a break—and the same goes for her, too. She went through something traumatic this week, and I ran over to her side because I knew she needed me, and I was there through it all for her because I know that she would do the same for me.

Even though we became family because of me being married to my husband, we still aren't blood, and we have gotten so close that it amazes us, regarding when we first met and how close we were going to be when this time came around. She told me that when she first saw me at the baby shower, she didn't think I was going to like her. But not only do I like her, I love her, and I show her the love that she doesn't get from the rest of the family that I live with here. A good amount of the time, my in-laws rarely even speak to her whenever she would come visit me. She and my sister-in-law don't speak after having one argument, and hates when my husband's cousin comes here to visit, and I honestly think that it is unfair. My husband wondered himself why I would spend so much time with her, and it is because I am there to be her family and her friend when there isn't anyone else who is willing to be there for her, other than her mom.

Family is a big part of someone's life for the most part. But that doesn't mean that family is always going to be there for you when you truly need it. I've seen it within my own family, and I hate it, and I don't have respect for the ones who are only being around their family just because they want something or otherwise, they are off doing their own thing. It is sad, and I myself am not close to a lot of my family because of that. I mean, I understand that everyone is off and doing their own things. But to be around only in certain events and not others is ridiculous.

So, if there is someone outside of your blood family that you know you can always count on and be there for you when you truly need it, and you can do the same for them when the tables are turned, that shows that you don't always need to have blood to be so close to. If there is a friend that you have and you can honestly say that they are basically family to you, then, why would you need to be around anyone else?

I remember in a Golden Girls episode, when they were all trying to catch flights to be with family for Christmas and it got cancelled. They were stuck in Miami for the holiday instead of seeing their relatives. But sitting at a diner, the waiter told them that if he didn't know any better, he would've thought they were actually blood family which got to them thinking that they were all feeling bad about not seeing their blood family, when right there between the four of them, they actually are family because of how close they all have become—and that is exactly what people need.

I mean, don't get me wrong: If you are very close to all your blood relatives, then that is great for you. But, if you are not and have friends or other people that you consider to be more like family, then that's all you need.

And you can always talk about it when it comes to adopted families. Most of the time, they aren't blood, but that doesn't mean that they aren't family. If the parents are willing to care for children who really aren't theirs by blood, then that is enough to be considered to be family, since they are always going to be there for each other and love each other more than anything. It works that way as well, and it is good.

So it doesn't matter whether or not you are blood or not; family is family, and if you can rely and count on them, then that is enough. If they are around more than any other really blood relatives, then there is nothing wrong with considering them to be blood, and it shows that there is someone that you know you can go to at the end of the day. I honestly didn't know that it was going to happen to me, and I know that I am not the only one and there are more people out there who have someone who they can call family as well.