Things About Family

You know that scene in It's A Wonderful Life at the very end when Harry shows up and toasts Jimmy Stewart as the Richest Man In Town? That's pretty much how I feel this morning. This is the thing about family and friends. Even when life is falling apart around your ears, and it seems like if one more thing goes wrong there is just no point in going on, and even if those overwhelming things will be, in hindsight, little speed bumps to remind us of who we are and what we are capable of, there is no price that can be put on having people around you who care.

I know that my sister can attest to this from a bleak crisis in her life a couple of year ago, and even though Emmy being hit by a car and the truck breaking down and Josh not getting the job he wanted are all somewhat minor in the big scheme of this beautiful life, I cannot fathom the love that washes over us from every corner of the country. Who knew that bringing pizza to feed everybody the night we got home from Hawaii and were shell-shocked from Emmy's accident would be the most comforting thing in the world? Or a some money from a little brother and sister who probably didn't really need to being dropping money like that (maybe we can work it out to be a tax write off?). Or a perfectly-timed interest-free short-term loan from parents who would do anything to make sure their kids were not just ok, but good. Or one of Emmy's greatest fans offering to babysit her anytime during her recovery process. Or a kennel from a family friend who wants desperately to help make sure that sweet Emmy is going to be taken care of. Or a vet that writes off all of her time with the dog and channels us drugs for her at cost. Or an impromptu intervention from buddies that will not stand to see all the little stress fractures do lasting damage to our relationships. I cannot tell you how loved I feel right now. How completely blessed and humbled and overwhelmed with gratitude for the family I have, blood relatives or not. Humbled barely covers it. I want to run out and make their lives as beautiful as mine is and make sure none of them ever want or hurt or struggle. How ashamed I am at the ungratefulness that I live in some days, the self-focus and the shallowness that I give in to. We lack absolutely nothing. We are so intensely spoiled that I can't imagine not finding ways to give back from our abundance. This is community. This is family. This is beautiful.

"No man is a failure who has friends."
-Clarence

watch the end of It's a Wonderful Life. For a Good cry.