We're all busy doing our own things: Pete and I working all day, Eli living it up with his friends at the sitter's, Rory doing whatever it is he does when no one else is home (I don't even want to think about what that might involve). 

But every night, we all have dinner together, and that's what feels the most like a family. We have breakfast together, too, but weekday breakfasts are rushed and scattered. Dinner's a different story. We're all in the kitchen, hanging out, eating and catching up, our family. For 45 minutes at the end of the day, there's no phones, no computers, no TV. Maybe some music, otherwise, just us. It's one of my favourite times of the day. 

There are other times I feel it, the family thing: when we're all in the car together, Eli sleeping in the backseat and Pete and I talking quietly so he keeps napping. Walking in the park, playing tag in the backyard. The rare occasion when the three of us go to the grocery store together. Watching the Santa Claus parade. Every day it's us, but sometimes the feeling of family is really powerful. Realizing that we are in it for the long haul, our little group. Remembering that I'm somebody's wife and somebody's mom. It's like the coziest blanket.