This time of year always reminds me of the families I have found. I worked at Borders for 10 years and despite the fact that the company closed I see one of my old co-workers weekly for lunch, others around the neighborhood, and about every other year one of my old co-workers has a party for us at her house so we can catch up. We had some of the craziest conversations and I know if I asked for help, they would be there just like I would be there for them 10 years after I left that job.

Another family was found when I worked in Abu Dhabi, and the reason I think of it now. My first faculty head started a tradition of Thanksgiving dinners the first year. You must understand, when living in another country all those national holidays that are part of the fabric of the year just don’t happen. The first year I was in Korea, we forgot Thanksgiving completely. The second year we cobbled together a Thanksgiving dinner on our way home from school by stopping in at the KFC around the corner. So when my faculty head invited all us teachers to dinner at her house, it was great. Also in Abu Dhabi was the woman who I called my Abu Dhabi Mom. She was the one who got out of bed to drive me to the hospital when I had my appendicitis, and the one I split a car rental with for two years. We had lunch together every weekend. Now that I’m back in Ohio and she’s living in Houston, I miss those lunches.

So it’s no wonder that one of my favorite tropes is found family. I love finding a series of books where the main characters have a group of people around them (who usually end up with their own books) and I love writing books with a cast of characters who might not be blood, but they are family, fighting with and for each other as they find their happily ever after. What’s your favorite found family?