Le Tribù Che Scelgo
The Tribe I Choose

I’m an only child so the idea of a sisterhood, a tribe, was a new notion to me. A few years ago when “tribe” popped up everywhere it was a strange feeling for me. I’ve had friends, sometimes more and sometimes less. I’ve had friends I thought would always be friends and I was wrong. I’ve had friends who come and go. I’ve had friends I never could have imagined being as irreplaceable as they’ve become. But a tribe? What’s a tribe?

Is a tribe a group friends you do everything with, everyone likes the same things, you’re all super close and inseparable? Think Seinfeld and Friends and A Million Little Things. I’ve never had that. I have work friends, college friends, and high school friends, but they’re all separate entities. They’re a Venn diagram of acquaintances. Am I tribeless? Does a tribe have a minimum requirement? Can you have a tribe of two or three?

My tribe is small, but powerful. I chose my tribe, I wasn’t born into it. And at first I thought that meant my tribe could leave at any time, as there is no DNA to bind us. But blood is thicker than water, and that doesn’t mean what most people think. It means the people you choose to be family are closer than the people you don’t. My tribe knows my faults and my whole history. My tribe reminds me to stand when I’m weak enough to fall, and lays when with me when it’s all too heavy. My tribe loves my children like their own, and I love theirs the same.

The tribe I choose I wouldn’t change for the world. You’re the Aunts and Uncles to my children, you’re the first phone call in good and bad. You’re my people, my spirit animals, and my kindred souls. My Tribe. La Mia Tribù. Grazie, e ti amo.