Last week my husband asked me to watch a documentary with him about one of his favourite comedians, Tig Notaro. Her story was touching and filled with events in her life that left her heartbroken. In 2012 Tig’s Mom died suddenly and shortly after Tig was diagnosed with cancer. Determined to carry on the life line of her mother Tig tried everything to have a child, despite the risks of her cancer returning from hormone treatments. She had her eggs extracted and found a surrogate to carry her baby. Tig and her fiancé Stephanie were hopeful that the pregnancy would take and they would welcome a baby into the world and carry on Tig’s Mom’s blood line. The pregnancy did not take and Tig was heartbroken once again. Family was paramount to Tig and Stephanie and they took control of their destiny to be Moms. First they explored adoption and then they decided to try again with a surrogate, using Stephanie’s eggs. This time the pregnancy took and they were blessed with more than they expected. Today they have twin boys Max and Finn, born in 2016. They are now living a joyful life that they are both eternally grateful for.
The details of Tig’s story and how she went from heartache to building a life filled with love and joy really got me thinking about the definition of family. Long gone are the days where family meant a Mom, a Dad and two point five children and a dog. It could be two Mom’s with two little boys, it could be a single Mom or a single Dad, it could be a Mom and Dad with eight kids, it could be a sweet little old lady with no family members but she has six cats. Wayne and I don’t have children but five years ago we rescued a dog. We connected instantly with her, it felt like she had been part of our family forever. Within a couple of months she became a part of our life, a part of our routine and we started calling her our baby girl, our baby Boink, who most of you know because it’s rare that I leave home without her.
Some people don’t have families and some have lost family members. Look at Bruce Wayne, his whole family died but he still had Alfred, Alfred was his family. Now, even if he didn’t have Alfred, he still had the Justice League, they were his work family.
People get married and they bring their family members together who could be from all kinds of different backgrounds. There may be a difference in race, religion, life experience and they become family creating even more interesting and diverse families.
Personally, I wish I had more access to my family in Germany. I’d love to visit with them once a year if I could. I’d love to start an airline and call it “Family Flies First” it would only be available for the month of February since Family Day is in February. I would offer half price flights to anyone who has family in another country. How wonderful would that be?
A lot of us will be celebrating family day tomorrow, no matter what our definition of family is. I think that it is important to honour what is important to you. Forget about what everyone else is doing for family day and all of the pictures flying around social media. Whether you are on your own regaling in great memories, spending the day with your dog or calling your best friend because he or she makes you feel like family, it’s your day!
Make sure you spend it in your own special way!
Monica XO
Let’s be honest, you guys are my family too! Why do you think I have so many fabulous events at the studio? We need to hang out regularly! That’s why!!
With that said, I have decided to open up my studio on Tuesday Feb 19th and continue our Valentine’s sale for those of you who were not able to come last week because of the big storm and my re-scheduling etc… ha ha! Here are the DETAILS! XO
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