Keep it Together

"When I get lonely and I need to be
Loved for who I am, not what they want to see
Brothers and sisters, they've always been there for me
We have a connection; home is where the heart should be"

'Keep it Together'
Madonna

Hi All,
While she's never been known for her lyrics, Madonna gets it right sometimes. I'm sure there are more poetic quotes about family. But really, I just wanted to throw in a Madonna reference. haha Kind of like, "Madonna is the Superman of the pop world." haha Superwoman, more like it. Anyhow! We had the Mitchell family reunion on Sunday, and I have to say it: I love these people more than anything or anyone in the world. You will never meet more literate, funny, warm people. I got so many hugs, I nearly died of joy. I'm very touchy-feely so I made sure to either grab or hug just about every person there. The cool thing was, they hugged back.
It's refeshing to be around such people; they remind you that you're loved and accepted no matter what. Bean and I always lament that we have to show up at every function alone, mate-less. I always tell Bean, "God's working on it." And in the meantime, He always surrounds me with these incredible people.

Like my brothers. They're my best friends, and two of the sweetest men alive. I'm very blessed. I always begged God for a sister, because, every little girl wants a sister, and He answered that prayer when I was 18 and met Bean. So I've got the best of both worlds. I love that my family never judges, no matter what. I don't believe in labels of any kind, and consider all labels to be inherently wrong, except for 'male' and 'female.' I'll acknowledge that there are differences there. But I don't agree with 'single,' 'divorced,' 'black,' 'white,' 'gay' or 'straight,' among others. I think it's odd that we as a society feel we must categorize everyone and everything. We're all the same, in the end. And in the end, it won't even matter that we're male or female. It's the spirit that counts. I realize I may sound way liberal with these views, but there you go. Or maybe I listen to too much Alanis. ha ha There are quite a few liberals in my family. Thank God for that!

So that was a fun day. Five hours with those people and you feel refreshed. Eating dinner with people who bring up authors and philosophy is awesome! I got some interesting commentary about my writing while I was there.
Comments:
"That's incredible!"
"I don't know how you do it."
"How do you have the time?"
"You really researched that novel, didn't you?"

The Sensation Inside contains a lot of myth and such. It's the best thing I've ever written, frankly. I'm not sure I'd ever top it.

But my favorite comment was: "You're brave."
Brave? Oh My. Brave is going through 8 major operations in the first seven years of your life and never once shedding a tear or complaining about it. THAT was Brave. But writing? It's like breathing, I always say. Journaling is like breathing in clean air. Natural and stress-free. But novel-writing is more like breathing in aroma therapy: it stimulates my mind so much, I actually think I get high from it. haha Okay, maybe I exaggerate slightly. But you get my drift.

That would be funny, though, wouldn't it? Writing Joints. haha
Speaking of Funny! A co-worker sent me two of those 'insane things to do,' and some of them are new to me, so I will post them next. They crack me up. People are funny, and brilliant, is all I can say.

Family Reunion Faux Pas
1) Getting someone's name wrong
2) Calling her his mother instead of his wife
3) Snorting
4) Telling people you've dropped the family name, for 'obvious reasons.'
5) Hogging the buffet

:)

Have a great day, All!