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All right gang. Here’s to nights that turn into mornings, and friends that turn into family.

This episode features my friend Jeffrey, whose voice you MIGHT recognize from the Friendship IRL introduction! We’ve known each other as long as I’ve been with my husband Michael, and we’ve been saying that “cheers!” for more than a decade.

Jeffrey is part of my “chosen family,” which as you know, is a concept I lean on heavily. For me, it’s a necessity. But one of the things that’s so interesting about Jeff: he has a strong, supportive family of origin, but also naturally leans into the idea of a chosen family, too.

In this episode, Jeffrey and I talk about our relationship and this idea of chosen family – with emphasis on the word “chosen.”

These days, the time we spend together is different from that of our college days – there are stays with three-week old babies, now – but we CHOOSE to keep in touch, to be there for each other, and that’s what keeps our chosen family intact.

In this episode you’ll hear about:

• Trust, which is the foundation of our friendship; we don’t second-guess our intentions or whether we want to hear from each other
• Being OK showing up in sweatpants, and how that can set the precedent of coming as you are (AND eliminate reasons to not hang out)
• When chosen families expand to your friends’ families, and the things we do because we’ve decided to add someone to our chosen family 
• How sometimes, adding someone to your chosen family means you’re committing to work harder – to fix problems and be there during the hard stuff
• Spending time together without plans instead of formalized settings or big events in place
• How being honest about what you’re looking for in a friendship can make all the difference in building your own chosen family

Resources & Links

Like what you hear? Visit my website, leave me a voicemail, and follow me on Instagram! 

Want to take this conversation a step further? Send this episode to a friend. Tell them you found it interesting and use what we just talked about as a conversation starter the next time you and your friend hang out!