happy, lucky sigh

I was reading another blog of a girl who mentioned that her family was acting crazy and that worried her. It made me think of all my friends who have to suffer for their families. My friends, who at such a tender age, are the backbone of their family. Who hold together the pieces of the lives of the ones they love in spite of the scars these people have given them. It doesn't seem fair or just. In college it bothered me that the books that we read and studied all centered around dysfunctional families. "Where are all the normal families?" I asked my professor one day (a question only the naive, emotionally secure can ask). "Nobody wants to read about normal families" she said. "That would be boring." That made me so very sorrowful. I think my friends who live the great American novel everyday would gladly take some boring in their life. Yet, these people, the selfless few who are willingly shackled to less than grateful families, are some of the best people I know. These people whose battle wounds have been reopened time and time again, are not only infinitely patient, they are loving, sensitive, and wise. And, the best part is that these people genuinely love those who have cut them the deepest. It is a love that only comes from knowing that your satisfaction comes not from receiving but giving, not from the approval of an earthly father but a Heavenly one. It is these people who cause me to never, ever take for granted my own family.