Thursday, August 9, 2012

Family matters

Second Blooming
 
This week's Spin Cycle topic is family.  I have to admit, I delayed writing this because there are so many directions I can take it.  Not all good, not all bad.  What makes a family?  Growing up, it was just me, my mom, my dad, my sister and my brother. And then there was extended family - cousins, aunts, uncles, grandparents.  But every since February 15, 2012...well, actually ever since some time in early June 2011, my concept of family has completely shifted. 
 
 
 
 
This is my family now. 
 
 
It's not to say that parents, T's parents, and everyone else isn't family.  No, they're family, of course.  But the family unit - it's the three of us now.  T, myself and Aubrey.
 
 
My brother put it best recently.  The three of us are this little family unit, a nucleus, if you will.  And everyone else just rotates outside that nucleus.  But the core, the part that really matters, the part that I must keep strong - it's the nucleus.  Without it, you wouldn't have an atom at all, would you?  You'd just have random particles floating around.  In fact, is that even possible?  Science people?
 
 
Okay, that's enough science for me. 
 
 
It's been a learning process.  I talked about it a few posts ago about being selfish with the time I spend with T and Aubrey and making decisions on what's best for our family.  It's not always easy because a big part of me still reverts back to what my family was before I met T, before we got married, before Aubrey came into our lives.  A big part of me gets sucked into other matters that are outside what really is important to the three of us.  I revert.  But I have to go back...to what my family is now. 
 
 
My priorities have changed.  T and I make decisions around what's best for Aubrey, what's best for us.  Suddenly, this little person was brought into our lives, and everything changed.  And I wouldn't have it any other way. 
 
 
The cool thing is, we take care of the nucleus, but the particles that rotate around us grow more and more.  My siblings get married, they have kids, their kids have kids...Aubrey will get married someday and have kids of her own.  And it just grows and grows and grows.  (Anyone else hearing "The Circle of Life" as you read this?)
 
 
But for now, my focus is on this
 



My nucleus.  And like I said, I wouldn't have it any other way.


So stop by Gretchen's blog and check out what other Spinners have to share.  And have a great weekend!
 
 
 
 

4 comments:

  1. First of all, what BEAUTIFUL family pictures. Really lovely.

    And what a true and touching post! It's amazing, isn't it? The way our idea of family, and of what's important shift and grow and yet seem so right.

    You are linked!

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  2. I had to laugh when I saw that you and I each gave our Spin the same title!

    It's just like those Johnson & Johnson commercials say...a baby changes everything! What a beautiful little girl. :D

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  3. We don't have a baby yet, but MJ and I see ourselves as a family nucleus too. And we try to be our priority... We love our parents, siblings cousins and grandparents, of course, but MJ and I are a family since the day we got married, so our focus is us. :)

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  4. I LOVE those pictures of you... and I think you have the perfect perspective on it! The 3 of you ARE what matters most. That is exactly how it should be.

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