AMAZING to me...the saying that 'blood is thicker than water'.  In my youth it was...a pure matter of survival.  Us against our parents - a mother who ddn't have time to nurture because she was too busy living in a fantasy world where June Cleavers rulled and our father - a stern man who hadn't a clue what love was let alone how to show it.  So growing up it was us...the ranks closed no matter how we didn't agree among ourselves we showed a united front to the world.  That was the way of it up until about 8 years ago when the first fisures showed.  Maybe the cracks were there earlier - when Aaron's wife left him for another man and walked out on their kids. Or when Sean's wife died giving birth to their daughter.  Or when I chose to marry a man who was disabled and needed a nurse not a wife and my brothers watched me break my back with a man who didn't know how to be one.....I don't know and at this point is is all pure speculation..

I've come to learn that there are 2 families...those we are born with of blood that we spend a lifetime learining to rise above and beyond...and those of the heart...those one finds along one's life road...the family one chooses to be part of.  I'd rather the latter, because my family of blood has often let me down precisely when I needed them the most.

So to my sister of the heart  who recently had this truth shoved down her throat after taking her pride in both her hands, I say this. Do not dispair, you are loved, valued and you will be taken care of...as much as I can.  I love you very much and I wanted you to know this.

Kate