One, Two, or Three Big Happy Families

I was once told, "The best kind of family is the one you make for yourself." Now, I love my God-given family very much, so I was extremely confused by this statement until I took a deeper look into the meaning. Making a family for yourself, well this could mean many things. First, I guess it could mean steal a family for yourself. However, I have heard that identity theft is somewhat illegal in our Judaical system; and so is stealing someone else's family. That just doesn't seem right.

But when I came to college, I finally understood what this meant.

"Women don't go to college to find their husbands, they go to find their bridesmaids." During a person's 4, maybe 5, years in college, they become extremely close with a select group of people. These people start out as acquaintances, the friends, then possibly roommates, ending in family. I can say that my college experience was no different. Now, of course on the way, you lose some friends due to different circumstances, but all in all, a person's tight-knit group remains the same. This made up family can help a person through the roughest of times. I know that mine has. Whether it be finals, a rough break-up or anything in-between, your "college" family is there for you during your darkest days. However, they are also there for the brightside. Your 21st birthday, acing an exam, getting accepting into graduate school, or landing that full-time job; your DIY college family has seen it all.

However, beyond the friends and roommates, there is another kind of family a person can create. I did just that through my business fraternity, Alpha Kappa Psi. When I joined Alpha Kappa Psi my first semester at college, I didn't expect to gain much of a family. Yes, I was given pledge parents, and became very close with my pledge class, but that was about it. I never felt that bond of brotherhood, well not yet. It wasn't until my first semester of my sophomore year that I really felt the connection of brotherhood. I had my first pledge children that semester, the beginning of my grand adventure into parenthood. All I could think of was, "Oh God, what have I gotten myself into." Just the idea of someone younger than me, looking to me for advance and guidance, what a hell of a job. Needless to say, I was scared shitless. However, life went on, and semester by semester I started accumulating children. After 5 semesters as a pledge parent, I had taken six pledge kids. And mighty pledge kids at that. Of course they have gone on and had pledge kids of their own, and then some and then some. Let's just say my "family" has grown larger than I had ever expected. Of course I had some help along the way ("married" to Austin for 4 semesters, Allison for 1), but this is a family I have created for myself. This is my AKPsi family, and I am very proud to say that.

Now, whether these families are better than my biological familia, I think not. I love my God-given family with all my heart, and I would never replace them for anything. But there are times when your original family cannot be there for you, that's when your created family steps up to the plate. They are there when no one else can be.
So next time you think you are alone in the world, look to your close friends who live with or near you, look to people in the same organizations as you, look to professors, mentors, bosses, etc. The list goes on and on. You are never alone.

"A happy family is but an earlier heaven." - George Bernard Shaw

Remain blissful, and as always, stay on the brightside.