Five Minute Friday - Real

Today is one of my favorite days.  It is a day when I relax, when I think, when I ponder and when I share.  I join with others and write without caring if it is "right" or not.  I just write, for the fun, for the adventure, for the joy of putting words on a page.  So, come on over to The Gypsy Mama, and join us for just five short minutes of wonder.  
The prompt today is:

REAL

START

I love the word Real.  It is an amazing word to me.  I can't even talk about it without including and excerpt from my all time favorite children's story, The Velveteen Rabbit.  

"What is REAL?" asked the Rabbit one day, when they were lying side by side near the nursery fender, before Nana came to tidy the room. "Does it mean having things that buzz inside you and a stick-out handle?"
"Real isn't how you are made," said the Skin Horse. "It's a thing that happens to you. When a child loves you for a long, long time, not just to play with, but REALLY loves you, then you become Real."
"Does it hurt?" asked the Rabbit.
"Sometimes," said the Skin Horse, for he was always truthful. "When you are Real you don't mind being hurt."
"Does it happen all at once, like being wound up," he asked, "or bit by bit?"
"It doesn't happen all at once," said the Skin Horse. "You become. It takes a long time. That's why it doesn't happen often to people who break easily, or have sharp edges, or who have to be carefully kept. Generally, by the time you are Real, most of your hair has been loved off, and your eyes drop out and you get loose in the joints and very shabby. But these things don't matter at all, because once you are Real you can't be ugly, except to people who don't understand."

Real to me is really simply love in action.  It is giving something my all.  It is the way I feel about my family and my children.  It is the tears, the sorrow, the fighting, the messes, the laughter, Christmas morning under the tree, the hopes, the fears, the love that is all wrapped up into what family really means to me.  
Being real is when the people you love most of all, understand you and love you just how you are.  It is the ability to forgive each other, care for each other, and accept each other.  It is something that a family becomes, as they learn to put the needs and wants of others far above their own.  Being REAL is what makes my family exactly who I want to be with.  With all our craziness and chaos, we love each other, we need each other, we want to be with each other.  But the best part of all is that we are REAL with each other.  Home is a place where you can take your hat off, be yourself, and still be loved.  I am not sure that you can get anymore REAL than that.  
STOP


Now it's your turn.  Write about real and come over the The Gypsy Mama and join us.