All My Sisters and Me

First, I must clear the virtual air and admit that I have no sisters. I have a brother and no other siblings. The title of this post is a reference to the song "We Are Family" which continues with "I got all my sisters and me." Even sisterless as I am I have the temerity to use the reference. I throw myself on the mercy of my readers as they judge me for my allusionary (or is it allusory) prowess or lack of prowess.

For the past week, we have been visiting family as we traverse the middle of the country. First we visited my aforementioned brother and got to see our niece and two nephews. Then we visited my aunt and three generations of cousins descended from my aunt. From there we visited one of Alrica's cousins. And in a couple days we will see one of her aunts. That journey will have taken us from Mountain Time to Eastern Time (currently in the middle of those in aptly named Central Time.)

There are so many commonalities in families. Don't overgeneralize from my statement. Families are all very different. Even separate branches of the same extended family have their unique history and interactions. But it is those differences, those quirks, which inform the similarities.

I suspect every family seems pretty eccentric to outsiders. My wife's family will always be a bit inexplicable to me. I'm sure my family seems equally exotic to her. And yet, it works. Families make it work.

When Alrica and I married, we both inherited new sets of relatives. We didn't have a good grasp on the history, the personalities, the past conflicts or triumphs, not the intergenerational issues. And now we are each a part of the other's family, writing our own history, bringing our own personalities, and developing new conflicts and triumphs. (What about new intergenerational issues? Ask my kids or my parents or my in-laws. Probably, yes.) For better or worse, she's a Goldstein. And I'm a Green. (As Kermit might tell you, that's not always easy.)

But in the same breath, it's great. We've each also gained new loved ones, new friends we can enjoy, new family who will always open their doors to us as though we had been born into their clan. I have a great time talking philosophy (and other esoteric topics) with Alrica's cousins we just visited. Alrica got to help my cousin choose paint samples. And the new baby who is my first cousin twice removed is just as much Alrica's cousin. There was plenty of snuggling to reinforce that.

Alrica with the first of a new generation

My point? (It's optimistic of you to think I have one. Thank you.) I may not have all my sisters and me, but I can still proclaim, for better or worse or in between, that we are family. Twice.