Family Welcome

My cousin asked for any welcomes or warnings we'd like to pass along to her husband-to-be. I quickly whipped this out at the last minute (which is how I do my best thinking) because "just the right thing" had been alluding me all week. After I read it, I was pretty satisfied that I'd summed up my Woods family fairly well. I also think it includes the extended family of friends we've all introduced to our little village of Ranier over the years, or to the friends who've found themselves in the company of many Woodses. I'm sharing it here......

Welcome. We are a family of lovers, fighters, crazies and loyalists. We tell tall fish tales. We work hard. We laugh hard.

When Lady Liberty said "give me your tired, your poor, your huddled masses yearning to breathe free," she got us just about right. We turn away no one. We will feed you whatever's in our fridge, or just go get it yourself. We will offer you a bed, or a couch, or an air mattress, or a floor, or a tent and a blanket, because we have plenty. We will accept you unconditionally into the fold of our lives, but expect that this grants us the permission to gossip about your choices incessantly.

We each like to be right, and we'll argue you for it. Conversely, if you are wrong, we will argue to your adversary that YOU are absolutely right. We'll love you, we'll hate you, but we'll never kick you out of the family. Just ask all the old in-laws that still come around.

It would be helpful to know large, uncommon vocabulary words. It would be helpful to know how to catch a fish, decorate a whole house with under $200, complete a crossword, fix plumbing problems and pick Kettle Falls out on a map. No musical talent required!

You should add yourself immediately to the "family registry of available body parts" in the event anyone requires a kidney, lung or left leg. But know that we will each happily hand over an ear, an arm or half a liver should you find yourself in need.

On your birthday, or Christmas or any other important occassion, know that we are thinking about you. We may have even purchased a gift or a card, but you won't get your acknowledgement until much later. This could mean days, or this could mean years. Molly's immediately family is really an exception to the ENTIRE rest of the family.

I think that's most of it. Oh, and learn all our names-we like that. Oh, and laugh at all our stories-we like that too.

Welcome one and all!