Kindred

My family . . .kindred . . . something that is near and dear to me . . . I have so few members of my (biological) family that I am close to . . . that I simply cherish the ones that I still have a relationship with. I did not have a close family growing up as a child. Much too much chaos and not enough love. I learned in my 20's that my family does not have to be blood or from my lineage . . . I learned that family means many different things to many different people. My family is who I surround myself with . . . people who know me and love me and accept me. There are few of these people that I am actually related to. These friends are my kindred.

Once I had children, I couldn't imagine not having them with me every moment of every single day. My kindred are my life right now . . . and I make sure they see the delight in my eyes each time I see them for the first time in the morning and the last time we gaze upon each other at night. I can't imagine not having these little members of my family around me each day.

My daughters . . . who bring me more joy than I ever thought possible . . . are my kindred . . . I simply adore these little people. I love this photo because it shows our reflections of how we see each other. My daughter is looking at me taking a photo of her and her baby sister and she is looking at me and I see the love she has for me in her eyes . . . so clearly . . . it brings tears to my eyes . . . because I know she is going to grow up soon . . . and I won't see that sparkle much . . . at least I hope that does not happen.

I couldn't post today without adding this little photo in . . . my brother gave this to me last year . . . a scanned coy of a photo that he had found at my aunt's house. The HILARITY of this makes me almost wet myself! I dont' even know where this was taken, I imagine my grandmother's farm somewhere? My poor little brother's - what the heck are they wearing! Those little geeks! I showed this to my daughter and she said "oh momma, you are a redhead" Well, yes, dear little one, I certainly am! (My MIL keeps telling everyone I'm not a real redhead - go figure?) All I can say is I really wish I had those skinny arse legs again!