Family.

Family: utterly infuriating yet completely loveable. It's really quite hard to find just the right words to describe a family. Possibly because every family is different; they come from a variety of cultures and are formed from so many dynamics that to try and define 'a family' is like trying to fit an apple into a matchbox. It cannot be done (unless you break the matchbox and squish the apple). 

Of course, a traditional family is a father, mother and two perfect children who all sit absolutely within their straight laced stereotypes.

 But it would be a struggle to find even one family like that. You don't need to be related by blood or alike in personality or temperament. You don't need to live in the same house or even the same country. You don't need to want to spend time with them and you don't need to get on and agree on everything. Your family are the people who have an affect on you.

 Not everyone has a mother and a father. Some people have two dads, some people have no parents, some people have twelve siblings and some have none. Some people are adopted and some people are in care. Some people are married, some are single, and some have partners. Some people have no blood relations but that doesn't mean they don't have a family. Family are the ones who drag you out of bed when you can't do it yourself. They pick you up off of the ground, dust you off and wipe away your tears. Families keep things from each other and they protect each other. But however a family is built, they love each other above all else, even if it's hidden beneath petty disagreements or problems that flow far deeper. 

Our family has very little to do with our genetics, but rather our ability to build and maintain thoughtful, meaningful and helpful, but by no means perfect, relationships. No one is without family. Nobody stands alone in this world.