Family and Friends

Family and friends or is that friends and family? The line blurs for me so often now.

I am a fortunate man. Fortunate to have lived enough years to sometimes adequately judge character. Sometimes the bad ones are my own blood. Other times the good ones are not related. I still make mistakes in judgement but as the years go by, less and less often. I am thankful to be surrounded by all of those I call my friends and all that I call my family. Funny how I differentiate less and less between the two.

Many of my younger years I had spent thinking I was with the right people and had been wrong. Now I choose my friends more wisely. You cannot choose your blood though, they come built in. The nice thing about being blood family is that, at least in my case, I choose whom in my family I respect and who not as much. I am happy to say that I can find good in all of them.

Flip that perspective around with friends. This has made me more accepting of people in general. What I think now, is that we do not have to always like a particular trait or or point of character. The freedom in friendship comes when you just accept. It is the same with family. I am free to choose with whom I associate. When it is true, when it is right, this is true freedom. When it is wrong I have the freedom to walk away. Or they from me. It is like being happy and sad at the same time.

Between family and friends the line continues to blur. This indeed, makes me a fortunate man.