"Family means nobody gets left behind.."

Family. Familia. Ohana. However you choose to say it, they are still family. I love my family and have always been a very family oriented type of person. My family is a very large bunch and I love them all. I feel so lucky and blessed to have such a great family, because I know not everybody has what I have. I bring up family because today, I woke up to the sounds of my family coming in and out of my house, scurrying around, placing some finishing touches on a birthday party for a cousin of mine. The party is not at our house, but we are helping with fruit platters and such, just offering up our helping hand wherever it may be needed. That is one thing I love most about my family, the fact of how we are always there to help one another when called upon. Even when not called upon, we always seem to let each other know that our hands are available if ever needed. One person in particular that showed the like of helping is my younger cousin Isabella. She offered to come over and help my mom put away groceries. A 9 year old little girl, that could easily say she'd rather go outside and play, wanted to help out her Tia Aurora instead. This just showed me that our acts of help toward each other has definitely rubbed off down to at least Isabella. Such a cute, and sweet little girl too.

Ohhhh, family, even when you don't want them around, they are still always there. They always seem to find those right buttons to push at those perfect moments as well. You know those moments, when you just need a moment away from it all to think, than one word is said. Just one, that may even just send you over the edge. They wouldn't be your family if they didn't push those perfect buttons either now would they? I find that no matter how much you may push them away, or how distant you make yourself, whenever you need them they are still there. In the end, despite it all, you laugh and end up saying to yourself how much you still love them. You feel happy that they are so welcoming and willing to accept you in always with open and loving arms no matter what the case may be. Simply because they are family. "Ohana means family, and family means nobody gets left behind."- Lilo, Lilo and Stitch

I can't wait to have a family of my own someday. That day is definitely not today or anytime soon for that matter. But when that day comes, I know I'm going to love every bit of it. Family will make you laugh, they will make you cry, they will make you think, they will make you learn, they will make you angry, happy, sad, or even mad, and they definitely will make you love. Bottom line is that I love my family and always will.

CHEERS! Here's to family!