You Can Pick Your Friends, But You Can't Pick Your Family

   Everyone who knows me knows that I'm pretty big on family. Being honest, my parents and sisters are some of my best friends. We're one of those families that eats dinner together every night, we tell each other about our days, spend weekends going to restaurants and movies together, etc. Usually when I tell friends about how much I love my family, they look upon it with envy. However, there is another element to family that they don't take into account. Extended family.
    It's Easter weekend, so naturally, a lot of my friends' families are getting together. So all day Thursday, all I heard was how much my friends love their cousins. They tell me that their cousins are some of their best friends, they love spending time with them, their aunts are like second mothers to them, they can't believe their extended family lives so far away. Unfortunately, my extended family isn't quite as close.
   I realize that every family - no exceptions - have that crazy uncle, or eccentric grandma, or something of the sort. Everyone has their family drama they have to deal with. However, my extended family happens to have a lot of that kind of drama. Luckily, my parents, sisters, and I try to stay out of it as much as we can. But regardless of what we may want to think, they are our family. They're our flesh and blood, however hard that may be to accept. Dealing with family drama is never fun or easy. For the most part, in my case, it's just embarrassing and extremely disappointing. However, at some point, I realized that I just have to accept that it is what it is. You can pick your friends, but you cannot pick your family, as hard as you may try.
    In times of family drama, I try to keep in mind how much I adore other aspects of my family. I shove thoughts of scandal and heartache out of my head, and replace it with good times we've had, and the better times that will come in the future. Sometimes it can be difficult not to roll your eyes at family dinners when your crazy aunt goes on a rant about subjects far passed everyone's comfort zone. But you just have to accept that everyone has their own brand of family crazy, and that is the rule, not the exception.