Family Values

I’m in LA, had a great time with family last night. I got to meet a couple of nephews for the first time, see sisters and a brother I’ve not seen in over a year AND fell in love with the children of my sister and brother. We had such a great time playing and hanging around. It felt SO good to be connected to my family. The way I was raised didn’t really have me feeling like an equal member of the family. So it was a delight to feel so close to people I love dearly.

The music was really well received. Surprisingly so. I think, given the fundamentalist home I grew up in, I have had it that the entire family is died-in-the-wool Republican and pro-war. Certainly a number of people in my family are or have been in the military (myself included). And it may be so that they ARE republican and pro-war. But I’ve been so impressed and moved by how open they’ve been to my music.

See, I grew up with this disconnected sense of family. My stepdad had special rules for me which were pretty restrictive. I should make it clear that I’ve totally forgiven him (a long time ago, in fact) and that I love him for everything. I believe he didn’t really know better, and was acting through a period of extreme stress and we both learned and grew a lot from the experience, I think. He’s a great dad (and always has been) to his children, and I appreciate and value the love he has for them and for me, too. I feel it. Anyway…

One of the things I love about my family is that it’s so diverse. We have black, hispanic and caucasian members of our family and despite our differing views, the love is still very much there. It has been a while since I’ve spent time with them, and it was a really wonderful reminder about the love of family.

I have friends who have a very broken relationship with their families and I feel incredibly lucky even though the way I grew up was not the way I’d choose, and will CERTAINLY NOT look ANYTHING like the way I’ll raise my kids. But to have feel the love of brothers and sisters and to rest in it… that’s priceless.