On Family

I love seeing my family with Stephen.

When everything went down a couple years ago with my ex and I,

I knew it would be difficult to bring someone new into the fold.

They had spent five years getting used to someone,

and watched the whole thing crumble.

 I knew they could possibly be more guarded when I met someone else,

especially when that someone else would be keeping their daughter/sister away from them for longer than they had expected.

AND imagine the worry when they couldn't even meet that person in real life,

and I was dropping everything (jobs, friends, family, weather) to be with him.

Looking back,

I am pretty amazed by my little family.

Sure my mom expressed a little concern,
Shane had his reservations,

friends said I was going too fast,

but in hindsight,

they really handled things with a lot of grace and support.

Then they met Stephen,

and they saw us interact,

and it only took 5 seconds for them to get on board wholeheartedly.

Seeing Shane and Stephen play for hours in the ocean,

just the two of them,

or S and my mom have a cup of coffee together in the mornings before Shane and I are up...
Sometimes S will stay downstairs at night to have a glass of wine with my mom while I head to bed.

It all just sort of melts my heart for so many reasons.

They constantly affirm him and tell him how much they love him,

how they are so excited for our wedding,

how they are so happy for us...
They make sure he is well fed, taken care of, comfortable, happy...

it just really makes me appreciate this family I have all the more.

I am really lucky and thankful.