One Big Family

After discussing the meaning of family with some dear friends this thought occurred to me… and I smiled as I asked myself…”How big is my family?” How big is my family?…as I repeated the question I thought… that all depends… on what is my definition of family…and how far that definition extends. I can count my wife, my children and grandchildren… but it seems a bit unfair… that when it comes to counting family…I should stop my counting there. What about my parents, my relatives, my ancestors? Now there’s a lengthy list… I’m pretty sure without them…my family wouldn’t exist. What about all the friends I’ve made… who’ve helped give my life balance and symmetry? Certainly I have to count them as part of my family. And what about anyone who’s touched my life… with whom I’ve shared joy or misery? Even if our time together was brief…I have to count them as family. And what about the pets we’ve had? surely I would be remiss… since we considered them family…if I didn’t add them to the list. And while I’m thinking about it…what about every human out there… even those who don’t look or act like me? Aren’t we all just different branches of one huge family tree? When I asked myself, ‘How big is my family?’ I thought there’d be a precis …a definitive amount… I never dreamed that number…would be higher than I can count.