Friends are the family you're allowed to pick

Noeline. Jeremy. May.
Three ordinary people who see each other in an extraordinary way.
Friends. People I've picked to be part of my family.

The end of the blame game. No more accusations about which side of the family we seem to have inherited our 'bad' features from.
Why we have overly thick hair. Why we have extremely thin hair. Why we're so short. Why we're too tall.
All of that doesn't matter anymore.
Finally, WE have the final say in who can, and who cannot, influence our inner self.
Why we're bitchy. Why we're nice. Why we put an act. Why we're ourselves.
And to a large extent, it's because of our friends that we're who we are on the inside.

Blame them, and ultimately, you're only blaming yourself.
They ARE you; and YOU them.
So goes the saying "Date one person, and you're dating their friends and family"
Don't say you're only into wog boys, rock music, surfy clothes and red nail polish because the rest of your group is; and that's what it takes to remain. That's just a display of your vulnerability to find real friends.

Jeremy, May and I, comfortable with our differences, were on the rooftop of May's place. The perfect place to play murder in the dark. We would have, but then we turned seven years old. Ok, no more pretending to be mature - it's because it was sunny that we didn't. We decided to admit defeat to the weather and just talked.

We talked about The Three F's:
1. Food… typical!
2. Friends
3. Family

For those few hours, we were happy basking in the sun surrounded by each others company. Perhaps what we discovered that day, about ourselves and within one another was our inability to accept the imperfections of our biological family. We were three people, the same in some aspects but more importantly - different in others.

We were the result of three different families.

Jeremy came from the 'normal' family, broadly speaking. He had a mother, father and younger sister.
May had a mother, father and siblings; yet wished her parents were separated.
I coming from a divorced family hoped my parents would never get back together.

May thought I was the luckiest girl alive. I envied that at least her father stuck around; I only saw mine every now and then.
What I'd give to have a set of parents who were together and got along - like Jeremy's.
What Jeremy would give to have the kind of close relationship I have with my mother.

Three completely different scenarios, yet each of us were unhappy with the one we came from. It just goes to show: Is anyone ever completely happy with their family?

Like me, we can be content; accept that things aren't, and never will be perfect – and cope with it.

Regardless of what kind of family we come from, I bet, if given the chance, we'd have an endless list of 'rooms for improvement'. Families aren't supposed to be impeccable. Siblings weren't made to get along. Life wasn't meant to be easy.

Still, to be alive is a grand thing. Contentedness is accepting the imperfections that life entails.