What is family?

I don't have a definition for you, but I know what a family isn't.  A family doesn't treat you like an unwelcome house guest.  A family doesn't exclude you from everything.  A family doesn't talk about you behind your back, doesn't demean you, doesn't make you feel inadequate.  No... I'm wrong.  A family DOES do these things... they just SHOULDN'T.

What I should talk about is Family... that illusive ideal that is so hard to find, yet so desirable...

My mother is my Family.  She's so wonderful to me and my brother... everything she's done has been for us.  Sure, when she can, she thinks about herself, but we always come first.. and that's scary, being loved that much. I remember a time when I hated my mother.  She was always the mean one, the enforcer.  Now, though, I can look back and see that I didn't hate my mother... I hated the demon she fights even today.  See, she's bipolar, much like me... yet not like me at all.  I'm depressant/hyper depressant.  I forget the term for her, but really I had three moms; Angry mom, Depressed mom, and Mom.  I hated angry mom.  I loved Mom.  And I got along with depressed mom.  It's not really my place to talk about this anymore, but let's just say Angry Mom is gone (hopefully for good)... and now I really do see what she's been through.

Now I have a new Family... friends who have grown so dear to me, so loving, that they ceased to be friends and have become my Family.  My Family has kept me alive, sometimes literally.

I had my first real Christmas with a split home this year... yeah, last year we had dad time and mom time, but this year we really had conflicting obligations.  I don't really want to use the term obligations... but it works, so whatever.  Long story short, it was a weird holiday, and I never felt better leaving a house on a day when Family should be easy to find :(