Hi,
Natalie goes to Mars Hill church, which is organized into community groups of 10 or 12. Natalie's group hit a pretty rough patch and was kind of disintegrating. This was very traumatic for her, as she was losing people who were dear to her. "They are my family!" she said. I guess this should have hurt my feelings, since I'm really family, but it didn't. I've said the same thing at least twice, about people who were not strictly family, but who mattered to me more or were more involved in my life. But when I gave it more thought, I realized that Natalie was actually wrong about that, in a very crucial way. The people that I called family are long-gone, and the people Natalie called family will be, too. Family stays forever, whether you want it to or not. It could be in a good way, like a monthly royalty payment, or in a bad way, like a skin rash. But family doesn't go away, whether you like it or not. I haven't been able to check yet, but I suspect that they won't go away even after they are dead and gone. There they are, there they stay, maybe in your head, maybe in your face. You just gotta deal.
Much love,
Uncle (ceremonially) Warren