Family and Place

My family is a very tight-knit clan. My mother has seven other siblings and that gave me 25 first cousins. That fact has made us very family oriented. It has also made for some interesting reunions. However, my mom’s family all lives in Chicago. Even though we try to see each other once a year, this has made getting together difficult and often expensive.
My family moved to Maine in 1993 and we began building our Maine-family from there. Because there are four children in my family, our house has always been teeming with life: that of our friends and ours. Quite often before I left for school, we got together with a few families in particular. These dinners are hours long lasting from early afternoon, and going well into the night. On these occasions each family prepares one or two dishes to complete a cornucopia of delicious food. This food is always accompanied by wine and music. Quite a drawn out evening spent simply enjoying each other’s company.
Just the other night here in Montana I was invited to spend some time at a friends out. A group of people who spent spring break together were having a shindig. At this party we helped clean gear from break, barbequed, drank, and danced. At a certain point during the night just felt so comfortable and I was reminded of the dinners I had at home.
This made me feel so good to know that even though I was not in the place where I usually call home, I was on my way to making this place home and building my own family. I am excited and cannot wait to share this new family with my Maine-family and friends.