Being Part of a Clan

I don't know yet where I will be moving with my boys come June.  I know every moment of every day that the clock is ticking, that I have the moment of decision looming closer and closer.  I have multiple excellent options and it's difficult to sort them according to what will be best for me, for my boys, for the ease of getting them time with their father ... One of the offers I have on the table is from my brother.  When David was trying to make his way through the maze of options before him in his early 20's, I invited him to live with my family for a year.  We enjoyed having him in our home, he was able to work and think through his future (he decided at the end of that year to return to school.)

Now he's offering to return the favor.  So today I'm going to spend time with my brother.  I have told him that I can't make a decision yet.  There are still too many unknowns and one of my biggest worries is that the employment situation here is bad, bad, bad.  But, we will talk.  And beyond all the ins and outs of trying to figure out my life, I'm going to enjoy the time I get with someone who just loves me.  He would happily mop up the floor with me in a game of Risk, but when things are a little rough, he's got my back in real life. 

In fact, all my family are like that.  In some ways they are the most annoying, interfering, and just plain ornery people on the face of the earth.  But they are my family.  In my weaker and less evolved moments (most of the time) I take great pleasure in the knowledge that anyone who picks a fight with me, is picking a fight with us all. 

Happy Friday to you from the backhills of Arkansas.