Family...

[mdehners]

Hadn’t Realized it had been so long since my “Last Confession”. Things ARE….I guess that’s the best way of putting it. I got talked into volunteering for an office with our town’s garden club which I’ve discovered included quite a bit more work than was explained to me when I was asked. As it always is! Luckly, I’ve got two more months to get the majority projects (a yrbook AND speakers for the new yr…) completed. Members of my local Pagan community have asked that I re-volunteer for the festival/gathering/campout/etc committee, but I think right now I’m already overwhelmed. I’ve got a stack of weathered wood that hasn’t even been touched for my Wood-working projects, I’m three weeks behind in my Old Englisc class and I’m even behind on yardwork!
On the Positive side, I DO have a number of Plant Crosses in the works…just waiting for the pods to Ripen.
Right now I’m Dealing with Biological Family, something that many Heathens tend to Romanticize (I wonder if they actually DEAL with a close, Intrusive, Bossy Family…). I do love mine …..BUT! As many Gay folk Know, 2nd Class Citizenship Status isn’t just in the General Public. We moved close to my folks because my Dad had Problems and my brother’s business didn’t allow him to keep an “Eye” out for them. Now we Know that the Problems were mostly Alcohol-exacerbated. If only he’d got Sober before we Moved Instead of 3 months after. We’d still be in the Bay Area with our community. Of course, in their heads we moved to BE helped, not to Help them and so there is a bit of Stress there. Both the folks and my brother are well-off compared to us and will Give with one hand while pointing out “In All Christian Love” what a disappointment we are. Of course, if you Refuse their Gifts, then it gets UGLY. Sadly enough, we have an older brother who the folks fly out to help every yr, even to the point of putting Mom in the hospital and not a “Peep” Negative about. Of course, he’s Straight (3 marriages, two of the wives had him locked up and took all his Possessions while “In the Tank”; one was Executed by the Mob and is buried in the Nevada desert. Now lives with his girlfriend and her kids in a trailer park in Pahrump, sponging off his Identical twin who had Polio as a kid…). ..
All this gets to a Point (A Point from YOU!?!! Say it isn’t So Patrick!). In Heathenry, Family…esp. Biological Family is Idolized. This is fine if you actually don’t have one or are lucky to have one that treats you as they treat your other siblings. Many of us don’t have that. I still feel that the best Family is the one your Create, not the one you were Born into (not to say the Borne into is a Bad Thing…) and to Worship Exclusively in the Immediate Biological isn’t Always that which helps you Grow your Heathen Practice and gain Greater Understanding of the Regin and their (and your) Place in the Cosmic Scheme of things…
Troth,
Pat