choosing your family

Yesterday was the Sun Run. It's a bit of a misnomer if you ask me, but you have to appreciate the optimism (thanks Andrew). It rained, which I'm told is pretty common, but it was still great. There's something magical about fifty thousand people of varying athletic ability all showing up to go 10K. Pretty cool.

This year we got really organized and put a team together. (Well, maybe not THAT organized, we did register about 2 hours before the final deadline.) Still, there we were proudly wearing our Level Ground t-shirts. (Level Ground is Kendra's cousin's fair trade coffee company. If you ever get the chance to try it, I highly recommend their Cafe San Miguel espresso roast. Mmmmmmm.) It was certainly different walking with a team of 14 this year instead of the 3 we had last year. For starters we had kidlets with us so there were bathroom breaks. But having the kids there also meant it was a whole lot of fun. I'm not sure how many other people got to skip through the Sun Run, or do the Hokey-Pokey or sing Veggie Tales en route.

The team was mostly made up of Kendra's family. I have had the great privilege of being an honorary Froese the past few years and it's been wonderful. After the Sun Run we headed off to Monica's place for swimming and hot tubbing and lunch. It was great to have a 'family afternoon' when my own blood family is so far away. I was told once that the process of growing up involves choosing your family. There is some family you're born with, and some you choose; some you decide to hold in your heart. Just as we were leaving Kendra's Mom said the nicest thing. She turned to Ceone and Judy and I and said "I so love having you girls here. Everytime you're with us you feel more like family." What a beautiful thing to say. What an honour to be chosen to be held in her heart.