Extend Your Family

Who makes up your family? Is it just your parents and siblings? How about your Aunts, Uncles and cousins? Do you consider classmates, church members or co-workers to be your family? What makes a family, a family?

I am so blessed to have such wonderful people as part of my family. A lot of times lately I have lost sight of this fact. I think of myself as an island. That I stand alone and that I have to take care of everything myself. I have struggled with my sense of self-worth and wondered if I actually matter to people. I think that we all struggle with that sometimes. We all want to know that something we have done or said has helped or made a difference in the lives of the people around us.

But self-worth is not what this post is about. This is about me remembering that families are amazing things, and they come in all different shapes and sizes. I allow my family to be very large, it doesn't just stop at blood relatives. Though I am close to many of my aunts, uncles and cousins and they mean the world to me, I have always grown close to other people as well.

When I do theater the people I work with are accepted into my family. Then there is church, my branch now, friends from other stakes and even my family ward from when I was growing up. I am lucky to have recently gained a sister-in-law and with been able to accept her immediate family as my own as well. And above all else I have always enjoyed that portion of my family that is made up of my close friends.

How wonderful it is and how lucky I am to be able to have such uplifting and fantastic people to play a part in the movie that is my life. My advice to everyone is to allow your family to grow, allow people to be a part of you. I leave you with my favorite thought from a grand movie Mrs. Doubtfire

There are all sorts of different families, Katie. Some families have one mommy, some families have one daddy, or two families. And some children live with their uncle or aunt. Some live with their grandparents, and some children live with foster parents. And some live in separate homes, in separate neighborhoods, in different areas of the country - and they may not see each other for days, or weeks, months... even years at a time. But if there's love, dear... those are the ties that bind, and you'll have a family in your heart, forever. - Mrs. Doubtfire