If there is one thing I’ve come to firmly believe – more and more everyday – over the past few years, it is that people are put into our lives for a reason. There is a system of checks and balances put in place by the powers that be (God, fate, destiny, what have you). Some of it might be random, some of it might be by design (not ours, of course), but however it happens, it happens for a reason.

For instance, say our grandparents, parents, siblings, aunts, uncles, or friends…well, suck. Check. The balance is that in some other area of our lives we will find someone who fills that void. It may come in the form of a mentor, a teacher, a coach, a friend, a college roommate, a colleague, or a mix match of family members and friends who fill roles they weren’t born into.

This is one of the beauties of life. In one aspect, maybe more, we may be lacking. Yet, in another, maybe many others, we are blessed beyond our wildest imaginings with people who love and support and care and defend us to the nth degree. These are the people I call my family. Whether we are related by blood or by respect and affection, family is what they are.

In this sense, I believe the old saying “You can’t choose your family” gets thrown right out the window and proves the exact opposite. We can choose our “family” and they can choose us in return. It’s all a part of the system of checks and balances – what we lack, we find elsewhere and we hold onto it as dearly and as long as we can and are meant to. Of course people are going to come in and out of our lives, what matters are the things we learn from them and the place they filled in our lives, for whatever purpose and whatever length of time.