All these years later, the five of us are still a family. We all have our roles. We have lived within a few miles from each other. We have lived on opposite ends of the country. We have lived in different countries. But we always had our family. They all flew in to New York for the birth of our son, Scott. We were all there for Shane and Carmen’s house warming. We were there for Bette’s 50th birthday party.

I was born into a family that had its issues. I have a brother and a sister by blood. I love them and I love their children. But these four women are the family I chose to love. These are the people who I would lay in traffic for. These are the people I can call at any time and know that no matter what is wrong, they’ll care and listen. We argue, we fight, we disagree and all live different lives, but in the end, we take care of each other. We love each other. Isn’t that what family is supposed to be?

—

“Is the Fairbanks family here?” I heard a voice pull me from my mind and my memories.

“Right here.” Shane answered. She walked over to me and helped me up from the ludicrously uncomfortable waiting room chairs.

“How is she?” I felt Tina’s gentle touch on my back as I waited for the doctor to speak. All I could focus on in those few seconds was the blood on his scrubs. I will never understand why they can’t put a white coat on or something to cover up the blood of the people we love before they speak to us.

“It was a little touchy there for a while, she got knocked around pretty badly. But we were able to stop her internal bleeding. We had to remove a part of her liver it was too damaged. But that will be ok, they can regenerate. She has a pretty nasty concussion. But it could have been a lot worse. She’ll be here for a bit to recover from the surgery, but she should be fine. She’s very lucky she was wearing her seatbelt.”

“Thank you.” I said as I hugged this stranger, but he saved Dana. He didn’t need a name. “Thank you. Can I see her?”

“In a few hours. She’s still in recovery. I’ll make sure the nurse tells you when she is moved to a private room.”

I was still thanking him after he had left the waiting room. I let myself be guided by someone back to the chairs, still a bit in a fog. It was all too surreal for me. I have been in the hospital waiting for word of Dana’s death before. It isn’t pleasant. We need to work on stopping these moments. “She’s going to be ok, Al.”

I looked up and saw my friends. I still am not sure who actually spoke to me, but it didn’t matter. Shane, Bette and Tina were there. Carmen was at my place with Scott and Angelica. I know they say blood is thicker than water, but at moments like this, I think they’re wrong. My world was going to ok. I still had my Dana. And we still had the gang.