The Power of Three

In ANYONE BUT YOU, by Lara M. Zeises. her protagonist, Seattle notes that "family, it turned out, was something you really could choose for yourself." Write about someone you've chosen to be a part of your family (biological, spiritual, vocational, etc.) and what that person has brought to your life.

This is the challenge for B4B (otherwise known as Blogging for Books) at Joshilyn Jackson's Faster than Kudzu site http://www.joshilynjackson.com


So back to my blog and the challenge. There are two women who are as much a part of my family as the ones who:

birthed
raised
disciplined
nurtured
corrected
counseled
suppported
taught
guided
loved

lil' ole ME, in the 44 plus years before these CHOSEN sisters arrived on the scene. I won't be writing about someone, but someones.

And the someones that I have folded into my little part of the universe would be Wendy and Corrie or Wen and Co for short.

Let's meet them shall we?

CORRIE

Co is a bubbly bundle of energy I met online over a year ago at an online scrapbook community (I SEE you rolling your eyes!) But she is wickedly cool and hip and hot and funny and real and insanely creative and Honest, with a capital H.

This past February, she took a complete chance on welcoming a someone she had never met in real life to her home for Mardi Gras in New Orleans. That would be me...oh and yes, my husband and two boys...brave girl!

And we connected, and partied and laughed and hugged and bonded like I haven't bonded with anyone in a LONG time.

She has become the little sister I never had and for whom I have always longed. One week later, she hopped on a plane and headed to my neck of the woods for a convention celebrating our shared passion.

And the bond grew even deeper. I also found out that she is calm, smart, strong, passionate, compassionate, thoughtful and honest, oh Lord still honest.

We talk to each other on the phone, chat online or in our blog daily.

But still there was one waiting to join the circle

WENDY

Another link from the same aforementioned, now defunct, scrapbooking website. ( STOP with the eye rolling already!)

She appeared on the scene months after Co and I had "met" online.

And I was immediately drawn to her.

Her snarky sense of humor, her artistry, her intelligence. Wen is in her words " Tall. Freakishly so. And a big nerd. Again, freakishly so. I admit to a strong addiction to chocolate, most especially Kit Kat's"

But she is more, so much more and not freakish in the least. She is intelligent in a way that amazes me, spiritual in a way that humbles me and compassionate in a no nonsense "Mary Poppins" sort of way that comforts me and kicks me in the arse in equal measure. And she's beautiful. Not really, really pretty, but beautiful beyond description...and so much more than she can see...but WE see.

I have not met her yet in real life, although we talk on the phone and chat online or in our blog daily. (Yes there is pattern here)

Co and Wen just hooked up in real life in November and while we three have yet to be in one place physically at the same time, we are connected.

Connected in the places that matter. In our hearts and heads, we're there with each other, everyday. Giving counsel and snarky humor and support.

We are each others sounding boards and wailing walls.

We celebrate the silly, sappy and sublime.

We chose each other.

Yes, you REALLY can choose.

We three...are family.