In the beginning, everything was black and/or white. Your family, for example, consisted of you, those who sired you, their relations, plus all the others sired along the way before/after you. This made categorization easy - and easy is a great and timeless selling point. Imagination didn’t count for much back then; that old adage “You can pick your friends but you cannot pick your family” was quite right. Nowadays your family might not so simply consist of a super-structure of folks in your life with one thing in common: you love them and they love you.This definition is far more liberal and legality notwithstanding is what many of us today seem to prefer. It weeds out all the bad elements while ushering in those formerly on the periphery. Perhaps the word needs to be made plural so that all parties might find comfort and inclusion: it’s no longer just about your family per se; it’s now about your families – all of them.For me, what matters most is what we do (or are willing to do) for our families. Do we give them enough time and attention? Are we consistently kind? Do we think of how we might be better? If so, then life (or at least our family life) is good. If not, well then there’s more work to be done. As I write my two-year old was playing with a box of Zoob Pieces. Now she’s eating them so to keep this family of mine in tact I had better pay her more attention. Three things to consider: Who is in your family? What role do you play? How might your role be improved?