Family is Heart

(Holy Family II by Jason Jenicke)

Yesterday was the Feast of the Holy Family of Jesus, Mary and Joseph.  At Mass, while the priest gave his sermon, I rode on my train of thoughts that took me to a place of gratitude for my lovingly-always-on-each-other's-nerves family.

Like any family, ours is made up of an eclectic group of imperfect individuals; each with their own unique set of quirks (a lot of them annoying) that come with the (thankfully redeeming) perks.  Yet, somehow, we work.  And, actually, we wouldn't have worked any other way.  I consider this, in itself,  a miracle and a testament to God's wisdom.

We complement each other.  Where one lacks, another is abundant or strong.

• My parents are staunch Catholics, strong in faith; continuously growing by studying Scriptures and the Catholic Catechism, and through fellowship with their communities / groups.
• With us, siblings, one is the prayerful conscience of the family; another is the everyone's-sounding-board peacemaker; another is the mighty bond who is also the embodiment of charity; and one is the cheerleader with a heart constantly expanding.
• We all enjoy eating.  It's our primary bonding medium.
• We all cook (except for Mama), but we have different specialties.  We can actually put up a cafe and have everything covered from soups/salads/starters to main entrees and grilled dishes to dessert and coffee.

The quirks?

We are a good mix of crazies:  impatient, given to anger, super sensitive, drama king/queen, sleepyhead, nocturnal, terrible at communication and coordination, immensely fluid, stringent, and a good range of OC-ness (obsessive compulsive traits).

But it is this family that saw me through my lowest and darkest moments; and rejoiced with me at my most meager triumphs.  And, most especially, they are the ones who saw me through my early single-motherhood phase, when it dawned on me that I bit off more than I could really chew.  I am grateful that they were (and still are) my strong support system.  Without their constant "reality check" and concerned reminders, the many times they filled in for me while I was on business trips (to the point of taking my son to client calls --- which he thoroughly enjoyed, by the way), and the ranting air times they afforded me, I probably would have had a mental breakdown by now.  Because of them, my son is turning out fairly-normal-and-mildly-amazing despite my shortcomings. 

We have climbed amazing heights and kept each other afloat during our wildest storms.  So, on the Feast of the Holy Family, I bless God for giving me this crazy bunch I call Home, where my heart always will be.