Part of the Family

There's a part of me that wants to write epic, creative masterpieces on my blog, so I wait until I come up with a good idea... then I just give up and decide to just talk about life instead. Hope y'all don't mind. :)

Today was unintentionally full of spur-of-the-moment decisions. Qait's older sister is moving to Texas, so she's in town for a few days, saying goodbye to a lot of Utah friends. Turns out she wanted to see me, too. So she and her husband picked me up and took me down to Payson to a family-reunion of sorts. Qait's parents were there, too, and they were so happy to see me. It's funny that, even eight years later, I still constantly underestimate how much they care about me.

You'd think I'd learn. Last year, they gave Tevan the "You take care of her, young man" speech, complete with the demonstration of dangerous weapons (Papa Boatright showed off his wickedly sharp, authentic samurai swords right before looking him dead in the eye and telling him to treat me right). It unnerved him far more than meeting my dad did. Qait told me later it's because they love me so darn much, and they want nothing but the best for me, so they were just checking to make sure the man on my arm deserved me. I was touched by their protectiveness.

Rae introduced me to her other family members as her family friend and adoptive sister. One of them remarked, "You know, she actually looks like the Boatright sisters." Rae responded that, for all intents and purposes, I was. First of all, I love it when people say that, because I feel like one of the Boatright sisters a lot of the time. Secondly, since Qait, Rae, and all of their sisters are GORGEOUS, I'm super flattered to be compared to them.

I've never felt so at home with someone else's family. Not even when I was meeting some of my then-boyfriend's siblings last year. I always try to describe how I feel about Qait's family, and I fail every time. Have you ever met someone and knew that they were your soul-mate? In the most non-romantic sense of soul-mate-ness, that's what it's like. I feel like I fit into that family as if I grew up with them.

My poor future-husband. I have double the family for him to meet and love. Not that it's hard to love either family. :)

After the Boatright family party, I came home, and Savannah offered to take me to see Qait and her new baby, Scarlett, since I was sick last week and couldn't visit. So, on that whim, we sauntered off to Orem to see my new niece. She is the most beautiful thing I have ever laid eyes on. With her curly dark hair and HUGE dark eyes, she looks like an exotic princess and I'm completely in love. I almost couldn't bear to give her back to Qait, but Ender needed some Aunt Lynnae love (and tummy-raspberries) so I had to.

I'm so grateful to be part of such a beautiful family. Being with them is as wholesome and refreshing as being with my own biological family.