The Love of Found Family

February is often associated with romance and love because of Valentine’s day. While we could spend most of this blog post with me rambling on about the origins of the holiday, I rather stay on topic as best as possible. With that out of the way let’s get into the thoughts.

Valentine’s Day happens to be my favorite holiday, not because I am a die hard romantic or anything like that but because I adore love, and I am fond of how many kinds of love there are. I think if we looked at the holiday with that lens less people would feel alone. This is a day I often shower my close friends with affection and remind them how amazing they are, and how special our friendship is. I think this tracks for me as Found Family was one of the first tropes I fell in head over heels with with as a reader who had a hard time making connections with people, and it continues to be a trope that I lean on in my writing. 

I also feel like through the scope of western U.S outlook, at least where I come from, the pressure to settle down and find someone begins young, and the ideas of around the holiday are strictly romantic. Well, Dear Reader, there is nothing more romantic than gettin’ your childhood bestie one of them giant plushies. Especially, if it’s just ‘another day’ to them. And before you ask, yes this is something I had done, and I’d happily do it again, the excitement that lit up her face was contagious. We spent the day laughing, eating discounted chocolates, and enjoying each other’s company.

The smallest act of love can change someone’s whole day, and I think that’s why I like to center the Found Family trope in my works VS a strict romance plot. (Not that I am never going to write romance. I got plenty of sapphic love stories in mind that I am excited to share.) But the friendships we tend to, are just as important as the romantic relationships in our lives and sometimes I’d argue can be more important. 

Found Family is a trope we find ourselves adoring in between the pages of our favorite novels. There’s so many stories of iconic duos, and trios. I mean this trope is so popular in fiction for a reason. People crave the meaningful connections. You, yes you Dear Reader, have the power to bring that kind of magic into our world, and right now I think spreading love is important. I mean what’s more romantic than Samwise carrying his buddy to Mt. Doom? I’ll wait.