The Family Portrait

I'm sure many of us can point to very specific times in our lives when our "family portrait" wasn't quite where we envisioned it would be, or where we wanted it.  I'm sure we can recall the sting of feeling something was missing. 
 
Someone was missing.
  
I don't usually forget how that sting felt for long, but I guess sometimes I might lose sight of it in the hurry and stress of the day...
 
…I might forget the way that pang always seemed to follow me around - reminding me that there was this huge part of my heart out there in the world somewhere - and I just couldn't seem to reach it, no matter how hard I fought for it or longed for it.
 
And so now and again, I remind myself to look around and see that I have indeed reached it.  I found those pieces of my heart.
 
Twice.
 
And my new “family portrait” is a nice little piece of "just perfect"...goofy grins and all.