Family

Funny how family is. We are supposed to be tight at the hip, knit together, stuck like glue, same blood coursing through our veins and yet we are nothing alike. Completely different people. Sometimes you'll get lucky and find your best friend in a brother and sister. Other times it seems as though you don't belong. Everything and everyone seems so foreign.

Another thought I've been pondering lately is why do families hurt each other more than friends? The guns and knives come out ready to jab, ready to hurl another word and for what? Satisfaction? Is there really satisfaction in hurting your flesh and blood? And yet when we walk down the street, "Hello! So nice to see you again! How are the kids, the dog, the husband, the family? Why don't you come over for dinner and we'll have a chat?"

The smiles, laughter, the happiness flooding through, all for a stranger, a friend or even a neighbor yet for some families talking or getting together is like entering a masquerade ball. Everyone with a mask and no one can or wants to see what is behind the mask. Its so very odd.

Does the cookie cutter family exist? The Huxtables, Leave it to Beaver, Little house on the prairie are they all just fragments of our imagination? Fictional characters brought to life? Do these families really exist, I wonder?