A Family Affair

Family is a 6 letter word. It can be used to describe not only blood relatives but also people who have touched your life on your journey through it. Friends are often considered family because they are there for you like family should be. Ive experienced a lot more friend family then actual blood.
Ive also experienced friends caring more then family ever did. No matter what the issue, my friends have always been there, thick and thin, dropping their own problems to help with mine. Im not the easiest of people to be friends or family with. I have this cloud of unmentionable sorrows that follows me around. My life seems to be a really bad lifetime movie event that never ends. I can honestly say a lot of it was caused by my abandonment issues,  I was passed around as a child like a joint. Over 40 times between the ages of 11-17. I experienced things a child of that age shouldnt have to experience, causing extreme trust issues. Although these things have sculpted me into the adult that I am now, its still up in the air whether it was for good or for bad.
Family in my opinion, are the people who stick by you through it all. Good, bad, and indifferent. There is a handful of people I can say have stuck by me. Only two of them being actual family members. My friends have guided me. They were there when I was 17, after being pimped out by my own mother. Selling my ass for her drug habit and then being left on the streets of Orlando Florida. Thats just a glimpse of the life I've lived, whicb seems like 4 lifetimes.
They say you cant choose Family, but I beg to differ! Ive chosen family often , and have been better because of it and them. I have a best friend who doesnt allow me to feel sorry for myself, she builds me up and lets me fly, and when I crash she is always there to help pick up the pieces.
I have a close friend who took me and my child in like family, A friend who asks for nothing in return, just a passion for helping, and a want for us to be safe and secure. Family doesnt judge you on the past, they help build you into a better person. It has taken a long time, and a lot of drama to get where I am today. It can be attributed to the people I've chosen to be in my life, some life-long and others that have proven to dissapoint!
Regardless, treat people with kindness, allow happiness and love to overflow in your life. Remember to share it with the people who help build it with you! Say Thank You, Tell them you appreciate them. Pay back isnt always monetary or bad. Pay them with respect and love, and in return youll have a family of your own choosing, full of people who love and respect you as you do them. 
In the divine words of RuPaul "If you dont love yourself, how the hell you gonna love somebody else?" 
Rant Over! Xoxo Miah