Family

I was speaking with my mother tonight and I asked her what I should write about and her response was 'family.'  I got to thinking about that and realized how I am blessed to have my natural relatives who love me and have shown me so much love and I continued thinking... family doesn't necessarily have to be a blood relative... To me family can just be those people who care about you, love you, support you, and are there for you.  So when I look at it that way... I have an amazing family around me... and it is a blessing!
Sometimes some natural families are torn apart by things that happen in life and people are not close at all to some members of their natural family, but there are those who care about each other and would do anything for others...
I know of someone who's parents never showed him any love, care, or compassion and never even cared what he did.  In his teen years he found a couple that lived not far from him that took him under their wing and showed him right from wrong and showed him love and compassion... they became like parents to him... This is what being a family is about...
If you are feeling like you are not a part of your natural family and feel that you have no one to turn too... there are people out there who will care about you, love you and support you even if they don't always agree with you... and you can find a 'family' in friends!

A Place To Visit

Is there some place that you have truly longed to go and visit?  We all have some place I am sure... just remember not to give up on it, but do all you can to make it happen.  I have always had 2 places that I have wanted to visit.  One is Scotland up in the highlands.  The other may not seem like the typical vacation spot, but I want to visit Benin, West Africa.  Here I have a wonderful friend that I would love to visit.  This country has it's problems at times and only within the last 20 years became The republic of Benin.  But when you have a friend somewhere it doesn't or shouldn't matter where they are... My friend's parents just recently had their home ransacked and the attached photo shows what happened. It may look as though it was a tornado... but it was done at the hands of men.  They have had to move to a different location due to this.  It is sad...  We often do not realize how lucky we really are to have what we do have.  I hear so many complain today about so many things that are so minimal and really nothing... compared to how others live.  We can complain all we want about rising gas prices, etc, but remember to be thankful that we even have a job to go to... a place to live... etc.  We have so much we can be thankful for... I think visiting other countries that are stricken can help one to appreciate all that they do have and remind us of how spoiled we are.