Family

What does that word mean? Is it love or is it blood.

I have been thinking about this way too much lately (and let me caveat with this is NOT about my siblings).

For me personally I think it means Love. A family is a unit that cares for and takes care of the ones it cares for. They don't care if they are directly related or related at all. There are people in my life that I have not even talked to for many years but are still family to me. Just because life gets in the way of a relationship you still care about them and would do anything for them.
Then there is the other side of that coin, blood. This is the one that has been troubling me too much lately. You can have "blood relative" that is just toxic and destructive to a family. A person that you should care for and they should be care for the ones around them and not just for themselves and "Fuck Everyone Else!" You look back over the years and you honestly wonder what happened, what changed, why did they turn out this way. Is it money, power, or just a overpowering narcissism that took them over. I really don't know but it seriously breaks my heart to have to see it happen and what it is doing to the real family unit. This is where it comes down to they just happen to share the same name but they certainly are NOT family.

Just had to vent a bit. It is really hard for me to take what is in my head and put it down on "paper". I have never been good expressing myself with words and that is what I want to try to work at with writing a little something everyday. I'm sure no one is seeing this and someday I will go back and look through it for memories when my own mind is fading away.