It was a strange picture to be sure: the mother hen moved along with her brood of chicks following her. Straggling along right with the chicks was a lone llittle gosling. Anyone looking at this bunch of feathered creatures could tell he did not bellong to the group.His long neck and skinny body was an odd match to the short necks and chubby little bodies of the chicks. Mother hen did not seem to care.As i studied the odd scene, I saw that mother hen took great care of every little critter without partiality. Liitle gosling was a member of her brood wether he looked it or not and she treated him as such. He might not have been her chick, but she was raising him like one. It struck me that it didnt matter that she had not laid the egg he hatched from; she loved him anyhow, in her own chickenish way. And then I realised that family does not neccesarily mean blood related. Now I am adopted. I am not blood related to my parents. A lot of people are not blood related to thier families. Family is who loves and cares for you. Who picks you up when you fall, holds you when you cry, laughs at your wierd jokes even though they arent that funny, and offers you support and encouragement through every part of your life. For little gosling, family was the mother hen and her little brood of chicks. it doesnt matter whether or not a person shates your DNA; what matters is the love they give you. DNA does not make a parent or sibling out of someone; love does. If you have a group of people that love you, you have family.