Monday, February 7, 2011

Family

Yesterday my fiance's older brother came to visit. My fiance did not ask if it was okay, just told him the address and to let us know when he was coming. This is note-worthy because he is not a model citizen. He has spent 12 or so of his 39 years in prison, and has being doing drugs from about twelve years of age. He has a different father than the rest of 8 siblings, and is for all intents and purposes, the family outcast. (Well, one of them.) He has lost the trust of all his brothers and sisters, but my fiance, in his own repeated words "refuses to give up him. He is family."

I have visited his remote home a few times, but this was the first time he visited me. He came with his boss (the brother doesn't have a car). They visited for a while during the Super Bowl; we talked about the upcoming wedding and whatnot. We were able to have them transport some stuff we were looking to get rid of or store.

After visiting for a while, I looked at the clock and it was time to make dinner. I was already planning on pasta, and that works great for a crowd. So I made enough food for everyone, and they were thankful. Then my fiance took them to the grocery store, and stocked them up. We have provided groceries a few times for them. They were so low the brother was lamenting he didn't even have butter for the noodles to feed his daughter. When it was time to leave, the brother came inside (they had decided to leave from the store) to give me a hug and say goodbye. I thought that was so nice.

After they left we noted that we were the only ones in the family he would be able to stop by like that. As I watched a video today about how we live our lives can make a difference without our saying a word, I was reminded of yesterday's events. I was planning on going to church last night, but instead, I believe we were the church.

1 comment:

  1. You ARE the church!! Yes! Yes! Yes!
    How strange that we often define church as a place.

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