On Family

Family is Numero Uno in our house (and that includes close friends who we consider family.)  Need someone to ride shotgun on the 10hr trip to Atlanta from NYC in a U-Haul with your family's entire belongings?  Sign us up!  $800 for last minute air tix for a funeral?  We don't even bat an eyelash.  Two days of coast-to-coast travel for 6hrs at a baby shower?  We're so there!

My MIL was in hospital last week and my family quickly moved into place to back each other up.  My Beloved stayed with her, then my SIL, then me, while my BIL kept the house running smoothly back home and took care of all the arrangements to make sure my SIL still got to celebrate her 39th birthday (again!).  My MIL is home now and, fortunately, this was not a magenta-level emergency (on the color wheel of terrorism/national disaster rainbow).  The feeling is like one of those silly group team-building exercises where everyone stands in a circle facing the person to their left and sits back onto the legs of the person on their right...

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This reminds me of a time* when we went hiking in some back woods in PA with My Beloved and Actor Friend.  We were bushwacking up a very steep hillside full of scree, mud, and debris when Actor Friend started to slide back down.  It all happened very fast.  My Beloved was in the lead, with Actor Friend behind him and me trailing.  "Fishboy!" Actor Friend said - not shouting, but in a serious tone.  Without hesitating or even turning his head, My Beloved shot his arm back and locked hands with Actor Friend, saving him.  Actor Friend recovered his footing and we all kept climbing, like it was just the most natural thing to reach out and save a friend without pause.  Which, of course, it is.

Isn't that the best feeling to know someone has got your back?

* Update:  Apparently, according to My Beloved, I was not actually there and they were fishing in a creek bed.  They'd ridden their bikes to the creek and were climbing back to the road after fishing, hauling the bikes, when Actor Friend started to fall.  Neither of us has an infallible memory, although mine is a much less reliable witness, so who can say if I was present or not.  Regardless, it doesn't detract from the point.  Which is: family rocks!