Thursday, August 02, 2007

FAMILIES



There's an awful lot of blood around that water is thicker than. ~Mignon McLaughlin, The Second Neurotic's Notebook, 1966

Call it a clan, call it a network, call it a tribe, call it a family. Whatever you call it, whoever you are, you need one. ~Jane Howard

Friends are God's apology for relations. ~Hugh Kingsmill

Let me start by saying I'm not intending to bash my blood relatives. Love them. Every last one of them. Period. This is intended to be a tribute to the "family" I've created through the years...

I'm going through a "thing," suffice to say. I e-mailed my trusted "family" with this "thing." One dear, dear friend wrote back, "We can withstand any storm as we share unconditional love. We are sisters of the soul. Family to each other."

How I long to hear those words from my other family, the "real" one.

Ironic thing is, I already "knew" that, but she wrote that anyway. The ones I long to hear that from? I don't "know" that, and I don't have it in writing, either. Makes a complicated story much easier to see when you look at it that way.

Sorry to be so cryptic - it's a family thing...


Dar Williams

FAMILY
Can you fix this? It's a broken heart.
It was fine, but it just fell apart.
It was mine, but now I give it to you,
Cause you can fix it, you know what to do.

Let your love cover me,
Like a pair of angel wings,
You are my family,
You are my family.

We stood outside in the summer rain,
Different people with a common pain.
A simple box in that hard red clay,
Where we left him to always remain.

Let your love cover me,
Like a pair of angel wings,
You are my family,
You are my family.

The child who played with the moon and stars,
Waves a snatch of hay in a common barn,
In the lonely house of Adams' fall
Lies a child, its just a child that's all, crying

Let your love cover me,
Like a pair of angel wings,
You are my family,
You are my family.

9 comments:

kario said...

My dear Carrie, I'm sorry you're going through a "thing" but I know you well enough to know that you'll come out the other side stronger and clearer and more full of love than ever. Here's hoping it lasts only as long as it needs to and no more.

Love.

Anonymous said...

Carrie, Ultimately this thing you are going through can only be resolved by you, deep down in your heart and soul. Regardless, you will have love, support and more love from members of your blood family and your chosen family because of who YOU are. You are so full of love and light and that remains the same. Be true to yourself. Wishing you peace.

Jerri said...

Whatever the "thing," I hope it comes and goes as it's meant to do. Meantime, know that you are loved.

I will hold you in the Light of love, Carrie. In your own light.

love.

Deb Shucka said...

Holding you in my heart. Trusting in your heart to teach you what you need in this.

Suzy said...

LOVE THIS PIECE!
Hmm... family, that's an interesting one.
I was strangely blessed in knowing right from the get go how they felt.
I think you might know how I feel about families, at least mine anyway.
"We can withstand any storm as we share unconditional love. We are sisters of the soul. Family to each other."
Never had those words said to me either by family and look how normal I turned out....
But you are a gem and will rise beyond whatever is going on now.
Love.
Suzy

riversgrace said...

Not being met by our 'family' reflects back to us the loneliest lonely, an existential aloneness. And yet that longing that you speak of is so deep, so young and hopeful, ever enduring.

I'm learning what women have perhaps always known, grown to know from that loneliness - follow the souful connections, find your tribe.

I don't know how we ever learn to feel ok with family.....that's the lifelong practice.

Whatever is happening, through that painful confrontation, I see more and more of you. Many things will fall away in the process, and what is true will transform with you.

Michelle O'Neil said...

"though the voices around you
kept shouting
their bad advice--
though the whole house
began to tremble
and you felt the old tug
at your ankles.
"Mend my life!"
each voice cried.
But you didn't stop.
You knew what you had to do"

Love, Carrie.

Anonymous said...

The sisterhood of women, that ultimate family that all women are to come home to, you have taught me this lesson my feathered friend...and you have taught me how to rely on this community in a way that I cannot even imagine. Potent power.

OTB won't work here, so I won't push the point...let's just say "nice work making it so cryptic that i wouldn't ask for OTB"

Kim said...

Sending you lots and lots of love, Carrie Poo.