This Easter, for various reasons, we missed going home to family so this week we have tried to make up for it. Yesterday we met up with our fantastic niece and nephew who we haven’t seen for a while. It’s amazing how kids change in short amounts of time and I can already see the wonderful people they are going to become. They have such amazing personalities and we laughed lots over lunch and even though we were only with them for a few hours it was great to reconnect!!

Here we are sharing a coffee and some giggles with them!!

So after a fun filled day yesterday my mum also surprised us with a visit this morning!! Thats actually quite a biggee for her as she doesn’t enjoy long drives on her own so was a fantastic thing for her to do. Shes come to stay for a few days so we are going to have a fab time, drinking too much and eating fabulous food!!

It got me to thinking though how important family is to all of us. Ive been lucky enough to have an incredible family, who support each other through good times and bad, but at various times in my life I’ve been surrounded by families that arent biological, but equally important.

Whether its friends from the early days, like Lisa and Sharon who looked after me like real big sisters when I was being a teen drama queen after I first left home

Or Flick, Vicky and the rest of my housemates who were there through the fab and not so fab college years

Or Eddie, Paul and the gang from the Exchange who watched me grow more confident as a person on the gay scene.

It’s also friends I have made since being part of ‘Jimbob & Dazzler’ like Carley who has been a part of some of our bigger life changes, or Beth, who has shared some of our madder moments.

Every one of these has had a huge impact on our lives, and although our families have changed over the years, with partners coming and going for us all, I’m a better person for having each and every one of them in my life.

But things change and what with cross country moves, marriages and new career choices people do sometimes drift apart. It worries me constantly that I am losing touch with these people who have been so important to me and had such a huge impact on me at various points in my life. I realise that you have friends that are there for a short while, just as you have friends that are there for the long haul, and that not every relationship will last but I still worry.

Then I look at my biological family who are there for each other, even though we don’t see or even speak to each other for sometimes weeks on end and I realise that it’s not being together or even regular contact that’s essential, it’s knowing that even after a long break you can pick up the phone and pick up exactly where you left off, not because you feel you have to, or because you need to, but because you are family…

So in conclusion I worked out that I’m truly lucky to have such a flabulous and diverse family, not just because they are always there but because they are happy to be photgraphed looking like this…..