Who is your family? Are they just the people who are actually related to you, or is your family bigger than that? I come from a big family, I’m the oldest of 7 and I have 24 {soon to be 29} nieces and nephews. When we are all together it’s A LOT!! – and we are REALLY LOUD!!! We spent a few days in Utah for my brother’s wedding at the beginning of January and my only child son was VERY overwhelmed with all the shenanigans going on with my siblings and their kids. I felt very much at home.
In Chicago, we have a whole other family who are made up of friends and their kids, they treat us like their own family. We have friends we spend the holidays with and friends who have literary adopted us as their own – they gave us adoption paperwork one year for Christmas. We are so lucky to be surrounded on all sides by loving people who care about our well being and are always here to support us.
Thinking about my family reminds me of these four amazing families. Yes, they might look different than some families, but the bonds they share and the love the have for each other is very much the same and they each inspire me to BE so much more. Rachel is my neighbor, who I met when my car wouldn’t start and she was running out the door to go to court. She had her mom come out and help me start my car, and we instantly connected – and I’ll be forever grateful that we met!!! She organized all of these families to meet downtown at Milton Lee Olive Park in Chicago and we had a wonderful few hours of family photos. I love each one of these families so much, I’m not sure they know how much they taught me in just the few short hours that I’ve known them, but my heart has been changed forever watching them with their beautiful children. I’m not sure I can even tell where one family ends an the other begins! <3
Thank you for such a fun day in the city, this was one of my favorite days last fall and I’m so grateful I got to share it with you!!
