To be a Green (or one of the many other last names that fit in my family)

I was raised in an amazing family. A family that doesn't differentiate between 1st and 3rd cousins in our love and closeness. A family that looks forward to Thanksgiving and a gathering of 60-70 of us in close quarters as a highlight of the year. A family that encouraged and loved and helped and joked with each other, mostly joked. The kind of family in which I could call and receive aid in any form at the drop of a hat from any one of my many cousins, aunts, uncles, great aunts, aunts that I call aunt but are really my 2nd cousins twice removed, etc. In my family we always hug and kiss when we see each other even if the last time we saw each other was the yesterday. In my wonderful amazing family the women are taught to be strong and independent. The women of my family are headstrong and willful at times, they are generous to a fault and have an abundant capacity to love. The matriarchs and patriarchs of our family have passed down to even the youngest in our family the importance of respect for our elders and love for family. Regardless of whether or not we were born into this family or married into the family we have been loved equally. It is hard for me to express how lucky I am to be a part of my family, my whole wonderful extended family. I am proud to be a Green (and related to people with other last names who all know who they are) and more than anything I am proud to be able to raise my children to know and love this family. Today I got to take a picture of 4 generations of women in my family and the youngest generation was represented by my daughter and I can't even find the words to express how amazing and wonderful and blessed I am by that.