Family is not based on DNA

I am the product of a "mixed family".
I spent my holidays split, my birthdays were extended, I had two allowances and two sets of chores. I had two bedrooms, Two copies of every report card and FOUR parents. With all of that came double the discipline, double the guidance and DOUBLE THE LOVE.

Even in my youngest years, at least as far back as I can remember, I never wished that I had the "leave it to beaver" fantasy family. While I am sure there were times I wondered what it was like to have both parents in the same house, it was only out of curiosity, not out of longing.

My siblings, all seven of them, are equally important to me, equally different, and not one of them shares the same two parents I do... yet we are all just as much family as anyone else.

Since the age of eight,  I have had four amazing people that have helped raise me, all with different personalities, different styles of communication and all with one goal in common... putting what was best for me first. I am thankful, not only for the moments in which I stood proudly at school, with all of them there supporting me, but also for the dreaded moments in which I had to face all of them when  my choices were not exactly the best. I remember my sweaty palms and the seemingly never ending moments in which each of them sat me down and gave me the best knowledge they could to help me through difficult times. I can still feel the way my eyes would roll when my mother would disagree with me, The frustrations I felt as a teenager when all i wanted to be was "free" and my Step father would remind me that I was still a child. I remember feeling angry when my father would call in support of my mother, and when my step mother would remind me that the rules stand... no matter what house I am in. I also remember BOTH of my mothers encouraging me to be everything I wanted to be and more, and BOTH of my fathers doing all they could to protect "their little girl" from the inevitable hurt I would feel from heartbreak.

I had two men walk me down the aisle when I was married, and four people give me away. There were two phone calls to two separate houses when I found out I was pregnant, and four very happy grandparents that were eager to welcome my children into this world along with me.

Now, as I am not only a parent, but a step parent, I am using all of these things in my own life, everyday, in attempts to raise three amazing little people to be even better than I turned out. I hear all four of my parents voices in my head when certain situations arise, and at least one, if not all of them are right. I am the person that I am today because of this blended family, and in turn, my children will benefit from it.