I Really Do

Last night, after hours of discussing budgets and whatnot with my parents, my mom and I took a break and just talked about stuff. Mostly it was about family…mostly her side of the family. After a fashion, the topic swerved to discuss Mary Scott and all the other big and little Scotts who have become my family as well (and me, theirs). During this talk, I got surprised by some emotions sneaking up on me.

It’s weird. We’ve talked about the Scotts quite a bit over the past couple of years (naturally), but it’s always like any other family talk. This time, when I mentioned how much I love these women I got all verklempt. I hadn’t expected that. Maybe it was because I talked to Mary for quite a while a little earlier in the evening, but for whatever reason the love I have for them just hit me upside the head.

It’s actually kind of nice to know that they produce in me that depth of feeling. I’m very lucky and happy (almost giddy) that they give my heart this kind of sustenance. I never expected to have this powerful of a relationship in my life, and I can’t even adequately explain what it is. They are all my dear friends and family, but any further definition is elusive. They are, I guess, my "soul-family". That’s the only way to really describe it. From the first time I met them almost eight years ago, they have inhabited a sizable portion of my heart. It was immediate. They were family, regardless of whatever happened afterwards. That it’s grown since then simply lets me love them all the more. If the price of that are eyes that occasionally well up and a throat that constricts with feeling when I talk about how I feel about them…well, I’ll gladly pay that any time.