Who Are Your People?

I don’t have many people that “stick”. You know what I mean. You love hanging out together and you enjoy one another and get along and have similar interests, but you or they never reach out. You just never “stick”. Maybe it’s being an adult. We’re all just busy doing life and so we have to prioritize on a super high level. So that means my list of “people” is short.

At the top is my husband, kids and grandkids. Husband and I are like two sides of the same fricken coin. We’re the same in so many ways and then total polar opposites. We struggle together and sigh together and smile together. Lately it’s hard to stay fixed to one another. We’re busy working and planning and fixing things. Then we have to weave time together in there like a thin silk ribbon between a tight, rigid framework. It’s hard and I feel like we grow together more and more every year because of it.

My world would spiral without my kids.

Our daughter isn’t even a teenager yet and she’s already more self aware and wise than most middle aged adults I know. Me included! Our son struggled as a child, but grew into such a funny, smarmy genius. I can hardly believe we raised him. And he married the most beautiful person. Through all of her struggles she finds growth and a dark, sarcastic happiness with a roll of her eyes. I learn just by breathing the same air as her. Their children have taught me the absolute core definition of love and reflection. Nothing will send you spiraling into a wonderful fit of nostalgia like watching a little clone of your grown child work through the same things you helped their parents work through 20 years earlier.

The rest of my family is right in there with them as well. My mom has always been my champion and my dad has just grown into such a sweet man. Seeing them always makes me warm and comforted. As long as they are still here on Earth, nothing bad could ever really happen. Then my siblings and their families. I absolutely love them all. We don’t always agree and we all have a certain level of friction between us at times. But these really are the people I can call to vent or ask advice or talk trash too over a bottle of wine.

Animals count too.

Next are my animals. Two dogs, two cats (one foster), an axolotl, a foster boa and a small flock of chickens. They are literally my sunshine. They are a little bit of work, with the feeding and aging animal ailments and the messes. I think it’s the fact that they just need me to a level my human people never will that reminds me to slow down and really look at them and love them.

Only one other group would get to be called my “people”. That would be the women I dance with. None of us really interact much outside of class, rehearsals or performance … but when we’re together all you hear is music and incessant laughter about something completely inappropriate. Dance has taught me to love my body and to appreciate it’s strength. It’s taught me to look at mine and others with respect and ease. It’s made me strong and resilient and showed me that I can do hard fucking things and look beautiful doing it. All I have to do is show up there and I’m in another space and time and I’m another version of myself that I’m learning, little by little, to bring home to my husband and family.

Who do you honor with the title of “your people”?