THE FAMILY YOU CHOOSE

I have two sisters-in-law: one who is related by marriage and one who’s related by divorce. I rarely see my sister-in-law by marriage, since she doesn’t like me. But I make it a point to see my sister-in-law by divorce as frequently as possible.

When my husband’s marriage to his first wife ended, her family said they got him in the divorce. When I married my husband almost eight years ago, they took me in too. I am especially close to Charli, the youngest of the five siblings. We talk or text most every week, and we see her and her boys several times a year. We are Uncle John and Aunt Jann. Uncle John takes the boys hunting and fishing when they visit us, and Charli and I have girl time. We share similar religious and political views, and we both love a good cup of coffee.

I refer to Charli as my sister-in-law, which confuses people not familiar with our unique situation. I’ve tried referring to her as my friend, but that designation doesn’t reflect the deep connection we share. Charli falls into that category of friends close enough to be called family. The difference is that we do call her family, as well as her boys.

We’ve been through a lot together, and I expect we’ll go through a lot more. We love going to visit and taking her boys out to Dave and Buster’s-it’s our thing. We spoil them with lunch and game tokens while she’s at work. Then we come back to their place and watch political news channels and discuss the world problems and how they should be solved. She serves us the most amazing homemade meals-I think I gain four pounds every weekend we visit!

I love family-don’t get me wrong. But family that was chosen is especially endearing to my heart. Charli chose to call me sister, and her boys choose to call me Aunt Jann. They don’t have to, they want to. I can’t think of any more special blessing than that.

Please comment and let me know your thoughts on this post-do you have family that chose you?