A friend always said, “what a wonderful world this would be if we could choose our own parents” – a suggestion that we take both the good and bad that we inherit from our parents because we have no other choice.

Family heartbreak is among the most devastating of all pain that we feel.

One reason is because of the expectation that relatives are somehow special because they are related to us.

In fact, I know a lot of people – me included – who have had friends that we consider the same as close family because they have earned the right to be family.

On the other side, there are people who may be related who you wouldn’t choose out of a lineup for, say, a brother or sister.

When families have strong bonded relationships among the members it is because of who they are not, not from which family they were born into.

This reminds us to always be the person we want to be and never feel badly if someone who carries our same name or line of parentage disappoints.

It’s not who we’re related to.

It’s how good is the relationship.

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