Featured Family: Numia

Speaking of people who inspire me as an artist....

It's time for Kindred Toys' first Featured Family post! The following is an interview I did of a dear friend of mine who was one of the first people to test my products. I'm hoping to develop a series of family-related interviews from old, new, and future customers to feature on my blog. If you're interested in participating don't be afraid to get in touch!

Tell us about your family:

My family is made up of my brothers, my sister, my sisters dad, my two roommates, my son, and my best friends Nancy, Paulie, Michael, Chalu and Nikki and Jamal and Shaquetta.

What makes your family unique?

No one in my family is blood related as a whole. My younger brother and I are half siblings, my two older brothers are blood related, my sister and her dad are obviously blood related, but that's it. We are all completely different. We choose to be the family we are based on what mymom gave us and taught us about love and family.

What do you love most about your family?

We are close. We laugh constantly. We love one another to the fullest. We are connected and bonded by more than blood.

In what ways do you feel your family has struggled in today's world and why? 

My family has always been a hard pill to swallow for a lot of people. My family's want to be close and stay together has often been shunned by western culture. because my family is made up of so many individuals, we have not all always been accepted.

When you look at pop culture, the media, etc do you see your family dynamic represented? Why or why not?

No. Because no one has concept of our family dynamic. That people could come together and create their own family and be more bonded and connected without blood relations being a part of it is confusing and misunderstood a lot of the time.

How has that affected you, your loved ones, and/or your children?

I believe when you have a foundation like the one my mom created for our family, the only way you can be affected is by having it bring you even closer and create an even stronger bond. No one needs to understand my family to be able to clearly see the love, trust, respect and acceptance that exists between all of us.

How do you define family? What makes a family functional?

Love.

As an action word.

Every day my family and I work at being loving one another. There is constant effort, caring, consideration, trust, respect... and when none of that seems to be working we make one another laugh, especially when times are the hardest. Family is not who is blood related to you that you have no choice but to accept and care about, my family is strictly made up of kids and people my mom took in and taught how to love, we CHOOSE to be a family, every day, through struggles and hurts and hardships, we still choose to be a family. We were taught that it is up to us to show love every day in how we treat one another, listen to one another, care for one another, accept one another, respect one another, look out for one another.