Family is Family

Don't mind me.  I'm just finishing up crying after watching the episode of Sister Wives when Maddie, one of the first children born into the Kody Brown family, gave birth.  I've seen every episode of this show, & I've struggled to explain why I'm so hooked to people who haven't seen it.  The family is polygamist, & Kody has four wives.  This is a very different world from the one I come from, but over the years, I've converted several people to the show, my mom included.

Their family looks very different from ours.  18 kids, 4 houses... & Maddie's birth was very different from my births.  She chose home birth; I didn't have that option but wouldn't have chose it if I could.  I had just my husband & the nurses & doctor.  She had, I think, her husband, the midwives, two or three of her moms, & her dad coaching her.  My dad came to the hospital the day my daughter was born... but he showed up to hold her after everything was all cleaned up. He definitely did not coach my husband as he caught Ginny coming out ("You don't understand how slippery they are").  In fact, my husband wanted no part of catching her.  He's a head-of-the-bed kind of husband... & I was fine with that.  It was a very, very different birth.

And yet, as they all reflected on baby Axel's birth, it became clear just how much family is family is family.  They all marveled at the beauty of the creation of life & at their new roles in this baby's life.  You saw the look of absolute love in the new grandparents' eyes... the same look my parents' eyes have when they look at the kids, & the same look Matt's parents have.  We may not be polygamists, but love is love is love, & it's so nice to get a glimpse of it in someone else's house while you sit on your couch.  That's my kind of reality tv.