Adoption

I'm sitting here again, toying with a laptop and sitting in the basement, watching the tv. The computer was blaring awhile ago, until The Powers That Be made the boys turn it off for the night. Dolly got backfrom babysitting awhile ago, too, and has now joined me and her sister in watching Ben-Hur. The funny thing about all this, of course, is that it's not my basement, laptop,
sisters, or brothers, and yet I'm supremely comfortable and accustomed to sitting here. Most people only have one family; I'm doubly blessed with a second family to love. They've been a haven for me through all manner of hideousness.
On top of everything else they've done for me, the fact that my second family is in many ways a polar opposite to my first has exposed me to an entirely different home--chaos and vibrancy, fierce emotion and struggle. I've learned a lot about humans and life just from being so long with the family that's adopted me.
That, I think, is one of the greatest labors we're assigned on this earth--to learn, and specifically to learn about ourselves, about humans. And the family, I think, is definitely the best classroom and workshop.

~Paul