Helping Hand

For as long as I can remember, I have wanted to lend a helping hand to my family. I told my aunt when I was about four years old that I would one day buy her the Lincoln Towncar she always loved. When I got a little older, I started to dream of converting all of the abandoned warehouses throughout the city but one conversion in particular would house my family.

It would be multiple levels with individual "condo units". No one would have a shortage of space, which is why my conversion involved a warehouse . . . I guess! We would have secure underground parking in the city and elevators to our individual suites. I, of course, always had the penthouse level with my own private bank of elevators (#introvert) and a balcony overlooking the city. I never had any expectation of payment from my family to execute this vision. It was simply just something I wanted to do for them.

Well, one day, about 25 years after my initial promise, I was able to buy my aunt a car. It wasn't a Lincoln Towncar, but it was a car. A car I was able to gift to her with zero expectation of repayment. It had to be one of the most exciting days of my life - the day I sat on her sofa and told her exactly what it was I wanted to do for her. The smile and the tears and the excited exclamations are all I will ever need to carry me through the rest of my life. I delivered, not 100%, but I delivered on my four-year-old promise!

With my eyes wide open now as a fully grown adult, I have minimized my expectation/promise to self of ever being able to provide a home for my family. The world we live in encourages back-stabbing, hate, and competition amongst people we love so, the likelihood we would all be able to coexist in such close proximity is low. But that doesn't stop my dream . . . my family may not be accepting but their are other families who will be. I will convert my warehouse and I will use it as a stepping stone to house families who are slowly making their way to independence again.

Life Lesson: Family doesn't always have to fit the "Webster Definition". Family is who you love and who chooses to love you in return. Keep lifting each other up . . .