By Heidi Hamm
Lego Batman. He’s dark. He’s brooding. He’s got 9-pack abs. He is a gazillionaire with super cool gadgets and a bad boy persona that make him way more interesting and a lot less annoying than that goody two-shoes Superman. But apparently, behind the mask, he’s not so different from you and me. There’s a little piece of Lego Batman in all of us. Way down deep, this egotistical, rom-com loving, lobster thermidor eating superhero wants what we all do. Family. A group of people who are ours. Who have to love us no matter how annoying we are.
While the new Lego Batman movie is fun for kids and adults, it is also a great reminder of what it means to be family, paired with some sweet 80s music goodness (MJ and Cutting Crew, anyone?)
It’s better to be part of a family than to be alone.
Unless you are hiding out in the bathroom right now in an attempt to get five minutes by yourself, then maybe not so much. Or when you are eating a double chocolate brownie and someone asks you to share. But the rest of the time, life is richer with family, although if you have kids your bank account won’t be (richer, that is). Family movie night, family game night, family vacations and family dinners just wouldn’t be the same without, you guessed it, family.
Families don’t have to be born. They can be made.
Families come in all shapes and sizes, and Batman’s family is a testament to this. Although they may not share a gene pool, they are still family. He has Alfred, his father figure butler; Dick Grayson (aka: Robin), the orphan he doesn’t even remember adopting; Barbara Gordon (aka: Batgirl), the woman who may or may not become his girlfriend, but who is definitely a friend; and even the Joker, who is like that batshit crazy second cousin everyone has hiding in their family closet.
Families let you do you.
They love you. No.Matter.What. Even if you want to go prancing out in public in a Reggae Man outfit with no pants. But be warned, they will take photographic evidence to be posted on Instagram and Facebook. Or they will just quietly store it away to be used against you at a later date when you finally come to your fashion senses. Because that is what families do.
Families forgive.
So when you do something really stupid, like decide that you can single handedly save the world from the baddest baddies, and it all goes wrong, your family will forgive you. Of course, not without making you squirm first, possibly saying, “I told you so” and definitely not without hearing you choke out the words, “I’m sorry.”
In order to save the world, sometimes you need a little help from family.
It is a lot easier to fight Godzilla, the Eye of Sauron, the nasty green Gremlins or even just the bullies in your own backyard when you know that someone has got your back. When the world is falling apart, the people standing beside you on the front lines are not strangers, they are family. Plus, having people around to help you do the dishes, walk the dog, laugh at your one-line zingers and give you big family hugs because they love you, faults and all, is good, too.
In the end, love is worth the pain.
Bruce Wayne spends years after the death of his parents terrified to love. He shuts people out so that he won’t have to suffer the pain of losing someone he loves again. What he finally realizes, however, is that the price of having people around to love, and to be loved, is worth it. That having people to stand and fight with you when you need them to, or to sit and cry with you when you need that, too, or to hold your hand and let it go when the time is right, is priceless.
Sure, sometimes family can be super annoying. There are moments when you question why you surround yourself with these crazy people when clearly, you are the only sane one. But in all of your moments, your best and especially, your worst, there ain’t no one that is going to love you like family.
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About the Author
Heidi Hamm is a writer, wife and mom of 6-year-old twin boys with the alter egos of the Hulk and Spiderman and their 8-year-old sister, who is in training to rule a small (or large) country someday. She has been published on Sammiches and Psych Meds, Scary Mommy and Mamalode. You can also find her on Facebook.