Today's topic Family.  I love my family.  We ain't right, as we say in the South.  Meaning for those of you who aren't in the South, that we are a little off, strange, weird etc.  But as my brother once told the father of a girl he was dating, when asked if our whole family was weird,  "Yes, but, we are good weird.".  That about sums us up.  

We are loud.  I try when I am around other people to temper my loudness, not always successfully.  I tell people that I am from a family of ten children and I am not always aware of how loud I am.  Sometimes my being loud can be helpful.  Just recently my niece ran into the parking lot of a busy store.  I was loud and got her attention.  She stopped on the spot and I was able to get her to safety.  I was also able to help the man that heard me and had a heart attack.  It was small, he's fine.  I felt bad for being so loud, I sent flowers.  But, my niece is safe and that is the main point.

We are passionate.  People think we are angry when we aren't.  We are just passionate, no one is mad, we are just exuberant over what ever topic we are discussing.  I remember my brother and I were having a passionate discussion about something, I don't remember what, and someone came over and asked us why we were fighting.  We looked at each other, stunned, and said almost in unison, "We're not fighting".   We were just having a passionate conversation.  Being passionate gets me into trouble.  I don't feel upset or angry on some topics, but maybe to explain to me what passionate means, revved up.  I don't want to fight or cause contention but I get revved.  When I get revved some people get nervous, like I will somehow attack them.  Not going to happen.  Being passionate also means I am a lover not a fighter.

We are smart.  I am not saying we are all going around solving the worlds problems or debating the Universe with Steven Hawking, I am just saying we ain't dumb.  Because we are smart and passionate we like to be in charge.  You might think this would cause a lot of fights amongst us all.  I won't lie, we fight sometimes.  However, we have kind of picked our sister Ginna to be the family organizer, the CEO if you will.  She does a good job of telling us what to do.  We just take our assignments and go.  It is because she excels at organization that we let her be in charge so much.  See, we ain't dumb.  If she were not good at organizing we would revolt and elect a new leader. 

We are curious.  We like to know things, how things work, why things are the way they are etc.  Which can lead to trouble.  If in our curiosity we find things are stupid, it bothers us.  Most people don't like their pet projects shot down because they don't make sense which ever one of us is asking intelligent (hopefully) questions about the what and how of something.   However, it can be helpful too, we like to read or watch things just to learn for pleasure.  A lot of people do that but a lot of people don't.   We are just some of the ones that do and we tend to remember and apply things we have learned and maybe help someone make their pet project better.  That is the dream any way.  Better to have the dream than the drama which with my passionate family could be a reality too.  

We are loyal.  We tend to stick with our friends, we aren't perfect but you can count on us to get your back.  I once had a friend that I supported.  It was a long time ago, and so school age, elementary school age no less.  She was also friends with another girl and they had a falling out.  I don't even remember over what.  But, they were going to fight.  Our whole grade was aware and picked sides.  Here is how the sides wound up me and girl A, against girl B and the rest of the grade.  I won't lie I think it crossed mind that the odds were way against us and maybe I didn't need to participate or support anyone.  In the end I felt that I had to stand by, I couldn't let certain loss or fear make my decision for me.  I stood by her.  And do you want to know what, it wound up being more hype, more drama than confrontation.  They had a fight, not much of one, some hair pulling etc and the police showed up and that was the end.  I watched as they were both put into the same police cruiser.  I never asked but am willing to bet that being taken away in handcuffs made them friends again if only for the car ride. 

We are what we are which is a family.  We don't make excuses for being what we are, we just are. So here's to being a little weird.  We ain't perfect, but we are have a certain something that keeps us going and hopefully fills the empty spaces around us with more joy than pain.