I bought a small pottery dish inscribed with these words for my friend’s birthday present: “Friends are the families we choose.”
While I was fishing for my credit card, the woman behind the counter announced, “That’s what I tell my next-door neighbor.”
And, then, she told me about last Thanksgiving. Her son wanted to do something different for the holiday, and her daughter wanted to celebrated with the traditions that her family had cherished for years. “It was complicated,” she concluded. “But we worked it out.”
We agreed. Families are complicated—and interesting—and important. And so are friends.
–Joy
