Family tree...Family forest

My ultimate goal is not to offend..... that means you mom... but I am refusing to be bound by the boundaries of a biological family. You can say what you wish but I am not a fan of being limited to a bloodline. I Know this isnt new information because many people feel this way.....meaning I am not the first to declare the following information.
There is a quote that friends are the siblings God forgot to give us. I don't hink that God exactly forgot to give me siblings but the fact of the matter is I don't have any. For years I was angry about this. Almost mad. Mad at my parents for never giving me a baby brother. Mad that I need to marry someone loaded wtih siblings to ever be able to be an aunt. Mad that on snow days while other kids had siblings to play with I had to entertain myself. My Fresman year of college I wrote a paper that was to be the preface for the book I would write some day. "More Than One or NONE," was to be the title. My singaltoness has only made me stronger. It has only made me more creative, and I do beleive because of this, I place a higher value on love through friendship. Recently I have been rediculed by my choice of friends. Maybe ridiculed is a harsh word... its more or less teasing. "Susie hangs out with 60 year olds." " Susie has married friends, married friends with babys." Its funny really because I think nothing of it.... When I was a server at a small town cafe back home my boss often teased me about my relationtionships with the customers that we might clasify as elderly. Its true I have always swung with an older crowd. My friends last weekend went to a lake cabin for a college graduation party. I drove myself to the cities for a retierment party.
The retierment party was for my adopted father from my Holy Land trip (I blogged about him months ago). This Celebration was an amazing experience. During the service/celebration they had the retiree go sit with his family. Represented were his wife, son, 2 brothers, and 2 sisters in laws. He sat right next to me. Not only did he sit next to me but also he put his arm around me. The whole service whether he was sitting by me or not I was beaming with pride. I am so in love with this man that it was just a privilege to be there. After the service I was asked to go to the front of the food line with the rest of my family, or "go stand by your dad and I'll take your picture." Too Funny! The moral of all this is I claim this couple as my own. I know they love me in that way and believe me its mutual. It’s so hard to justify my relationship with them because I feel that few people understand the deep connection we actually do have.
My sister Claira whom I have blogged about before is a simmular example. We have had several conversations about how lying about it is just easier. As it turns out it actually is. If I say she is my sister... instead of explaining that she’s (like a sister) there are no questions. Its obvious why I would want to talk to her so often and its perfectly acceptable for us to end the conversation by saying "I love you."
Many of my friendships have also become sisterhoods. Most recently I have become so comfortable with some of my Duluth friends that I feel I can make demands of them and pull the brutally honest card. Conflict then happens sealing the deal that there is truly something worth fighting for.
I love my biological family very much..... But believe me if God gave us absolutely everything we needed in the form of our biological family we wouldn’t need all these other people in our life. So glad it is what it is...