Family. This is the thing that has built me into the woman I am today. This is the thing that has held me together when everything else has fallen apart. This is the thing I measure almost everything against. I have an incredibly stable, loving, supportive family that has always been as solid as a rock. I'm lucky, I think, because my family extends beyond just my parents and siblings. It includes an aunt and uncle who are amazing and their children and grandchild. It includes a few incredibly close friends and their own families. These friends, my women women, my other support group, are all spread wide and far, yet, when I need them they are thisclose to me (thank god for technology). Now I am building my own family with my husband, and I am comforted by the knowledge that when our baby arrives, she (or he, according to my dad), will receive the same kind of love, support, stability and strength I have always received from my own extended family. It is amazing to be married to someone who shares, besides culture, a similar upbringing, a similar set of values and beliefs, someone who will be my partner in raising our child, not my enemy. I say this because for me, part of forming a family needs to include this shared set of values and beliefs that we can pass on to our baby. With a a failed marriage and a successful one, I can compare and be thankful that I found the right person to bring a child into the world with. Family. Wow. I can't believe that I am adding to my own!
Copyright Karina Sang 2008
