Family is Family...No Matter What

To me, family is family. I don’t care if you are my cousin or my fifth cousin. You are still my family. I am kind of confused about something.  Let’s say you have an aunt that gets remarried to a man but who has a child with her first husband.  Who is your uncle, would the first person become your ex uncle?  It is really confusing to me. I think that they are both your uncle, because one is my cousin’s father and the other is my aunt’s husband. I would consider my cousin’s dad more of my uncle because they are my cousin’s dad. Yeah I just confused myself too.  Of course most of the time the ex-husband or ex-wife are the ones that are usually the ones that don’t come to family functions because that could be kind of awkward.  I know I will never go to a family function for my ex’s family and that is fine with me. But, then I am thinking about who are these people. I mean are you really supposed to forget that you spent a huge chunk of your life with those people.  I understand when you divorce someone you divorce their family in a sense. Those bonds are forced to be broken.   It is a fact of life. It is just something that is understood.  I personally think that it sucks. I was really close to my ex-husband’s aunt.  I often think about her, if she is doing well. She has a horrible disease and I loved her, I still do.  I know that I will never have a hug from her, and that makes me want to cry.

I still consider those exes who are the parents of my cousins as my aunts and uncles.  I am just odd I guess.  I still love them.  One of them I used to see all the time at family things.  My family is different though. We are the type of family that would accept you if you were legally a member or not.  I love that about us.  I try to include them if I can.  I think that life is too short, to exclude others.  I love whole heartedly. I can’t just forget about someone like they never existed.  When my Grandma Rose passed away, my cousin’s ex-wife came to the funeral.  I could tell she felt kind of out of place when she went around hugging everyone in my family. She said I’m sorry for your loss, and I replied I am sorry about yours too.  I knew that she spent a lot of time with my grandma, my grandma loved her.  I think that I took her by surprise when I said that. I truly feel that it was her loss as well.  My aunt Mary came to the funeral as well.  She was married to my uncle before he passed away; I hadn’t seen her probably since my uncle’s funeral.  That wasn’t really weird for me either. I knew my grandma loved her too.  Family is so weird sometimes. 

Then I think about those who you call aunt and uncle who aren’t even related to at all.  Those are usually your parents’ friends that you have known for almost or all your life. It is more an honorary title. Then you have your godparents if you are catholic. Even though, it seems like everyone has godparents these days, catholic or not.  You have sisters and brothers that are not even related to you but you just love them that much and you become so close that the barrier of friends and family gets broken down and you are just family. Those are the best kind of friends to have.  I love my friends unconditionally as I do my family.  I love what Gibbs on NCIS said a few weeks ago about family. He said Family is more than just DNA it’s about people who care and take care of each other. I agree whole heartedly.  It truly is not about DNA or marriage or anything but just that, people who care and take care of each other.  I just can’t turn my back on people who I have cared about in the past. I just can’t. It is not who I am, it is not how I was raised. I am here for those, even if they were not there for me.  Someday you never know who might be there for you.

I used to Jazzercise.

I used to Jazzercise. The funniest thing about that, is I am totally uncoordinated,  I didn’t do too hot, I only went for 8 weeks and then I was done.  I couldn’t keep up, I must have been the comic relief, besides the awkwardness from the ladies in the thong leotards.  I always hid in the back. I didn’t want anyone following my lead.  Cue the sweatbands, cheesy 80’s music and all the women jazzercising in unison. Then there was me, the 24 year old with her 24 year old best friend and my boss. Who was a nightmare in her own hellish Montessori way. Never Jazzercise with your boss, I didn’t do it on purpose. How was I supposed to know that she would be there? I was afraid of making a mistake, of course I couldn’t hide from her. She saw me and started talking me up.  Shooting my old best friend judgmental looks of why she didn’t enroll her kids in her Montessori school.  That was added stress of the monstrous Mrs. V breathing down my neck. Judging my Jazzercise form, which I had none.  I think the instructor was tempted to tell me about a preschool class that I could join to catch up.  I have never been a dancer.  Maybe when I was little, and I was dancing in my basement to music.  I never danced at school dances unless they were slow dances. 

I don’t even dance at bars or clubs. I did on my 20^th birthday though at some club somewhere in North Carolina. I figured I would never see these people again so whatever.  That was more like rub up on random people and hope you didn’t get lice or worse.  It was at a club with drinking but you had to have a special wristband to get alcohol, and since I didn’t have my first sip of booze until the day I turned 21, I wasn’t interested in that. If you believe that, I have a bridge to sell you. I was responsible though.  I know it isn’t really a self esteem thing it is just not what I am in to.  So, any chances of me going and winning a dance off ala Grease or Saved by the Bell, are gone.  I am one heck of a slow dancer though.  I won’t even step on your toes. I remember dancing with my Grandma Rose in her kitchen we would do the box step.

I always dance with Noah, we dance in the pool while I sing to him holding him in my arms. We also dance like crazy people around the house. I am really silly. It is so cute because Noah will say, May I have this dance to me.  Of course I have to say yes. He is so adorable.

Bertolli Frozen Meal Review

Most parents are really busy with their families and they don’t always have the time to make a home cooked meal from scratch. That doesn’t mean that you have to sacrifice quality and taste in your dinner choice.  You can still have a quick and easy and delicious meal. Bertolli is a brand that I was already familiar with, from their other frozen meals and of courses their spaghetti sauces.  I had the opportunity to try out Bertolli’s new frozen meal soup. It is for two; of course you could eat it for two meals, if you wanted. I was really excited to try this new product.  It comes in 4 varieties: Chicken Minestrone, Tuscan Style Beef & Vegetables, Roasted Chicken & Rotini Pasta, and finally Tomato Florentine & Tortellini with Chicken. My son is a really picky eater so sometimes I don’t want to eat the same thing he is having for dinner or lunch.  My tastes are more refined so occasionally we have different foods for dinner.  Bertolli Frozen  Meal  Soup  is different than any soup you can find in the soup aisle of the grocery store. I think that is because all the flavor and ingredients wouldn’t fit in a can.  If Bertolli put this soup in a can, it would have to a really big can.  So, because not everyone wants to carry around a huge can, they decided to make it frozen. I personally think that can soups lose something in the canning process.  They wanted to keep it as fresh as possible, just like your mom would spend hours in the kitchen making. 

I tried the Tomato Florentine & Tortellini with Chicken. The Tomato Florentine & Tortellini with chicken is Cheese-filled tortellini, white meat chicken, spinach and tomatoes in a rich tomato bisque with a hint of basil.   This soup is full of gorgeous vegetables, big chunks of chicken and delicious flavor.  You can tell how fresh the ingredients are. It was really easy to make right on the stove top. It smelled so good when it was cooking that my mouth couldn’t wait to try it. The bisque is amazing and very creamy.   The vegetables retained their color and texture that really makes it special.  It would be great on a bed of rice, but I decided just to eat it with a couple pieces of good Italian bread with special garlic spread.  I was really looking forward to dinner that night, where I finished up the rest of my soup. I really enjoyed Bertolli Tomato Florentine & Tortellini with Chicken and I can’t wait to try the other flavors.

You can find all of the Bertolli  Frozen Meal Soups in the freezer section at your local grocery store.  For more information please visit the Bertolli Website.

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 I was compensated by Bertolli to participate in the Weeknight Meal Special Challenge. All thoughts and opinions are my own.