Being digitally adopted

I know I haven't written in a while. I also know that I don't write very well. But, as I always say, this is for me to work through things more than anything else. Today, the thing I have to work through is being overwhelmed with positive feelings. This is a thing that's been happening slowly, as these things tend to. But rather than talking about talking about it, I'll dive right in.

I've spoken at length about what family means to me, so I won't go into that again, but what I have to say today is related. So maybe read that first?

Anyway, in the past 16 months or so I've been slowly adopted by a new digital family. I have never met a more beautiful bunch of misfits and oddballs in my life. We've self-described as a bunch of lost puppies, being gathered up, and as the island of misfit toys. Both feel accurate. It feels like we fit together because we don't fit elsewhere.

This is not the first time in my life I've been part of such a group either. In Highschool, my social circle was a similar island of misfit toys, I just didn't realize it at the time.

Everyone in this circle has made room in their lives for me, and I them. I've had my eyes opened to a lot of things that I didn't know that I didn't know, and felt safe doing it. I've been overwhelmed by kindness, openness, generosity, and family love. We've shared fears, joys, sadness. Welcomed in little tiny humans into our hearts, and stood together as some of us have had to say goodbye to loved ones. Job changes and cross-country moves. In short, life.

A few things have happend recently that have made it clear to me that, yes I am, in fact, part of this family. That's not always been an easy thing for me to tell, which is why I almost feel sucker-punched (with happiness) by it. The most recent of these is that a "digital family portriat" was comissioned, as a composite of individual pictures. These are all the "digital self image" of people, but through the eyes of the person comissoining it. (Basically, this is how that person pictures each of us, based on our personality, and only lightly informed by our actual looks).

Here's the family picture:

And here's the one of me:

I feel like I've written a lot of loosely connected thoughts here. I haven't made much (if any) sense. So I'll just close with:

To my fellow Aggrochat'ers: You are my people. You gave me a home when I desperately needed one (and didn't even know it). I cannot possibly tell you how much you all mean to me.

Love & Respect,

/x1101

PS: Credit where credit is due. The amazing art here is by Ammo. You can find her other works here or contat her on Twitter