Imagine one day you are walking to the kitchen. Suddenly, your spouse says to you that the ex you have been pissed at for years for dating, dumbing you twice, and losing your cherished belongings in a trailer repossession was coming to stay in your home without your knowledge, opinion, or consent.

 

Yeah, Shawn said something like:

 

"Hey, you remember Morgan, right? He and his wife are having issues and might be calling it quits. He needed somewhere to go, so I told him to go ahead and drive here."

 

My husband and I had words. I did not win.

 

Then, a few months later, he says in passing again:

 

"I told Morgan to go ahead and tell his wife and kids to drive down because they are going to try to work it out."

 

What did I say? What could I have said? It doesn't matter, I lost anyway.

 

Though I had an easier time expressing myself to Shawn, others were still an issue. No friend I'd had throughout my marriage lasted more than a few years. I never fully felt comfortable in my friendships. I was always trying to do the right thing or say the right thing so as not to break the mirror.

 

So when Morgan and Natasha came to stay in a camper on our 30 acres, I didn't know what to do. This lady and her two kids were there when I went out to get air. Four extra people were at the table with my children and me at dinner time. Mind you, I still wasn't keen on having my ex-boyfriend living on my land, let alone his whole family, but it turned out to be one of the best things that happened to me, aside from my babies who came walking and taking.

 

Nat and Morgan are happily divorced now, and they have three children whom I call Zombie, Sunshine, and Tomato, despite them having real names. The last I was lucky enough to be there holding Natasha's hand for when that red little ball of goo popped out of her Va jay-jay. Magical. Then Natasha remarried and had a fourth whom I refer to as Looney.

 

I know it is a cliche saying, but it really does take a village. Not just to raise children but also to raise adults. It took me almost 30 years to find my click and the sister I never had but always wanted. All because of a choice made for me by my husband, followed by some strange and peculiar incidents, to break the ice for a group of introverts, and bam, you have a bizarre but wonderfully complicated family.

 

A family that encourages, supports, annoys, frustrates, and makes me thankful almost daily. I am blessed to have people who love and accept me at the best, worst, and most psychotic times of my life. The kind of family that encourages me to embrace and love every weird, strange, and disturbing factor about myself. What more can one ask for?

 

I'm complex and complicated, and that's okay. What fun would the world be if we were all the same?

 

And that is how Mia was born.