“The bond that links
your true family is not one
of blood, but of respect
and joy in each other’s life.”
Richard Bach

My nephew, Sean O’Donnell, and his wife, Kerry, invited family members to join them yesterday for the baptism of their daughter, Aiofe, in San Francisco. Following the ceremony at Saint Gabriel Church, the family gathered in the back courtyard (“Wawona Gates”) of the United Irish Cultural Center for a celebratory reception. The event was a reminder to me of the importance of family.

The reception was well-attended. The O’Donnell side of the family is quite large. With three generations of O’Donnells represented, along with their spouses, children, and grandchildren, the Carroll side of the family was significantly outnumbered. That’s okay, because in the forty years since Jim O’Donnell and my sister, Peggy, married in September 1985, the O’Donnell and Carroll families have basically merged into one big family. It’s always a pleasure to get together with them.

At yesterday’s event, however, there was another segment of this growing Irish family. I had the pleasure of meeting Kerry’s parents and her sister, Maura. In my conversations with them, I experienced that same sense of family connection. Getting to know them made me wish I had met them all many years earlier. What good people!

Spanish philosopher George Santayana wrote, “The family is one of nature’s masterpieces.” It most certainly is. The family unit is ever-changing, constantly growing, perfectly imperfect, and the foundation of a civil society. It’s been said that families are like branches on a tree. We grow in different directions, yet our roots remain as one.

As I mentioned, yesterday’s gathering reminded me of what a blessing it is for me to me to be a part of my family — including all the various branches which have grown from our common roots. 

Sir John Bowring, the former governor of Hong Kong, wrote, “A happy family is but an earlier Heaven.” At the reception yesterday, I experienced another taste of Heaven.