At some point in our lives, I am sure we have all heard the phrase: “You can choose your friends, but you can’t choose your family.” While I agree that you can’t choose who you share blood with, you can certainly choose both your friends and family, and neither has to have shared blood. 

I realized this rather recently when I went down to Texas in late January. My mom and I traveled down there to go to a convention for the fans of the show Supernatural, which we had both gotten into during quarantine. We got to meet some of the actors, take photos with some of the props from the set, and watch a lot of entertaining panels. Overall, the experience was great, but it wasn’t just because of those things. The activities I mentioned formed only a fraction of what made that trip so memorable and life-changing for me.

The first day of the convention was more relaxed than the other two days, but I knew that it was going to be different from any other trip I had gone on before. While waiting for one of my photo-ops, I met two people sitting in the same area as I was. We got to talking and, after about 15 minutes, we all had to go to different events we had signed up for. Later that same day, they invited me to sit with them while waiting for our autographs. We had an amazing time, and I returned to our hotel room that night excited that I had made some new friends.

That was just the beginning.

For the next two days of the con, I met some wonderful people (shoutout to Clay, Jes, and Katie), and we got to know each other really well. On the last night of the con we ended up deciding to play a game in the lobby of the hotel we all stayed at. We ordered some uber-eats pizza and cannoli, and we waited in the lobby for the food to come. We started off the night with just 5 of us. When, minus my mom who went to our room at around 10:30, we ended the night there were over 10 of us. I didn’t get back to my hotel room until 2:30 in the morning.

These people were people I had never met until either the day before or that night, and yet, I felt the most comfortable I had been in a while around them. All of us came from different backgrounds, yet we were all united by a shared love for something, which allowed us to discover so much more about each other. I found a sense of family with these people, and I am still in contact with them today!

The Supernatural fans as a whole are called the SPN Family. I didn’t understand why until I saw and felt it for myself. 

When you find people you truly can connect with, you feel it in your soul. This sense of family is not limited to my experience, it can be felt anywhere if you find the right people. 

A lot of people will say that these individuals are just friends, but they are more than that. They know you and appreciate you for the person that you are, just as you do the same for them.

“Found” or “Chosen Family” is oftentimes misunderstood as something for those who have an absence of their born family, but this simply isn’t true. Having a chosen family is something that anyone can have, and everyone should have. Your chosen family can be whoever you feel a deep connection with. There is a good chance that you already have one. Think to yourself: “Who would I want to call when I got the worst news of my life.” A lot of the time, those people are who you consider your chosen family. Chosen family can include your born family too, but it is not limited to that.

Having or finding a chosen family is something everyone can benefit from. So when you get the chance, find one. I can almost guarantee that you will be happier when you realize who they are. I know I did.

by Tori Morris ’23, Contributing Writer

23vmorris@montroseschool.org