Ohana in a Broken Family
“Ohana means family. Family means no one gets left behind or forgotten.” But what do you do when the meteor of life comes in and crashes into your family, fracturing it, sending it in more directions than the bowling pins after a strike? What does Ohana mean when nothing is enough to keep your family together? When you’re too young, or the hurt is too deep, or the world just conspires against you? When mental or physical illness, addictions, distance, and deep wounds create gulfs you no longer know how to mend? When your Ohana is the source of your soul’s deepest wounds? Can a broken family still be Ohana? Are you allowed to have Ohana if brokenness is your past? I remember a time when Ohana was the unadulterated gift that all the posters, all the articles talk about. I remember the passion of family being the wave that carried me through life. But I also remember when that wave crashed into the cliff, shattering. I remember being left on the rocks wondering how I’d gotten h