I recently rewatched The Royal Tenenbaums, a film I loved when I was a teenager and hadn’t seen in forever. And let me tell you, it holds up! It’s such a well-drawn portrait of a family that is all disillusioned and stunted in some way, who ultimately come together to lean on each other and remember that family is always family, no matter how complicated things get. And the soundtrack… my goodness! Do yourself a favor and fire it up on Spotify right now; you won’t regret it. But it has me thinking about family and what it means. 

Some family members are chosen, like your buddies or your pets. Some family is thrust upon you, like your actual family, or whenever you go to Olive Garden. Family can mean so many different things to so many different people in so many different ways. But what matters is that we feel it in our lives.