Thanksgiving is a difficult time for my family of four. We moved from Ohio nearly a decade ago, leaving behind all of our extended family. Through moving we learned a very important lesson, family and relatives are not the same thing. Relatives are through a bloodline, but family is who you choose to share your life with. They share the best moments, the worst moments, and the holidays. This Thanksgiving I interviewed and/or photographed my biological mother, biological father, and biological brother along with my non-biological younger sisters and brothers.

It is commonplace, especially in America, to believe that family is blood and there is no changing that, you are stuck with who you are stuck with, for better or for worse. My family disagrees. While interviewing about this topic, she said: “I find it ridiculous to think that these people that we have chosen are any less family than the racists that we left behind. Honestly, I think they’re more family.” ¹ My father and brother were not as keen on having an open dialogue about the family that we have selected, so I moved on to ask my non-biological brother Matt. He told me “The first time we [me] met, I was certain that there had been a glitch [in the universe]. We clicked as if we had the same brain. I don’t know how two people can share the same brain and not be family.” ²

I then went on to ask the youngest of the Steinberg kin, Avery at only five years old. I asked her if family only meant related by blood and she told me “No. If family was only blood, we wouldn’t be here together and we wouldn’t love each other as much as we do.” ³

 

 

 

1. Lauren Steinberg, face to face discussion with me, November 23, 2017
2. Matthew [Last Name Redacted for privacy], face to face discussion with me, November 23, 2017
3. Avery [Last Name Redacted for privacy], face to face discussion with me, November 23, 2017