Family begins with "F"

It may be hard to believe, but yes — I do own a dictionary.

In fact, the dictionary I use at home weighs more than my wife. It’s the Encarta World English Dictionary and it’s proven over and over again to be a valuable resource.

And such was the case on Saturday morning, when I was drafting the routine I would use later that evening in my debut performance as a comedian at the second annual Maine Family Fun Festival in Biddeford.

Many of those who organized and operate the Maine Family Fun Festival are former volunteers for Biddeford’s more well-known La Kermesse Festival.

The newer festival got its name because organizers wanted their three-day event to be more focused upon family activities than any particular cultural heritage.

But when I found out that Tim Sevigny, a Biddeford firefighter who is one of the MFFF’s key organizers, doesn’t have children, I immediately understood why he would think it makes sense to combine the words “family” and “fun.”

I don’t know, maybe the MFFF organizers are into alliteration. If so, I think there are a lot of other “F” words that come to mind when talking about our families.

Now get your mind out of the gutter because this is where my dictionary comes into the picture. This is a “family” newspaper, after all.

When I think of “family,” I think of fighting, feuds, fanatics, felons and freeloaders.

I also think about flatulence because of the trauma that is rekindled whenever my mother tells me to pull her finger.

Although our society is encouraged to think of families as breeding fond familiarity, when you peek just beneath the façade of that fable, it’s easy to see the propaganda as not much more of a fantasy, a fallacy or more accurately — a falsehood that relies favorably upon fiction.

My dictionary describes the word “family” primarily as a noun, meaning “people living together with several things in common; a group of people living together and ‘functioning’ as a single household, usually consisting of children and their parents.”

In my dictionary, the word “family” follows variations of the word “familiar,” a derivative of the Latin “familia,” which when properly translated means “something that defies logic and conventional wisdom.”

So, if family is about familiarity and co-existence, then isn’t it appropriate to describe our greater community as not much more than one big, extended family? Work with me here.

We all live in the same community, and we all share common challenges and goals. And as much as you disagree with some members of your own family, the same could be said of your larger family.

Under this hypothesis, we could all begin addressing Biddeford Mayor Wallace Nutting as “Dad” (Or maybe as Sir Dad, sir). And Saco Mayor Mark Johnston, already known for his ability to feed many people with short notice, could be “Mom.”

Old Orchard Beach Town Manager Jim Thomas is more like Uncle Lou, the guy who always passes out after Thanksgiving dinner and likes to tell you stories about how he used to fight off grizzly bears with nothing more than his Thermos.

In a few weeks, Biddeford will again host the annual La Kermesse Festival. Some might think that La Kermesse suffered a schism of sorts when Sevigny and other volunteers decided last year to do something different by organizing the Maine Family Fun Festival.

But I think both festivals can coexist, so long as we can remember that we are all part of the same family, regardless of our zip codes.

Festivals are, in many ways, a community’s version of a family reunion. Once a year, you get to eat, laugh and play with relatives you have not seen in a long while.

So, can our larger family handle two annual reunions? It remains to be seen, especially if the first one always happens during weather that’s more suited to Seattle than Biddeford.

But we can all be proud that our extended family is willing to make such an effort, especially when you think about how much work and sacrifice the festivals/reunions require.

Let’s face it, family life is seldom fun. More often than not, we are confronted with daily challenges when it comes to finding a peaceful way to “live” with people who really don’t have as much in common as my dictionary would suggest.

Your family, however — whether it’s the people you share a home with, or the neighbors down the street — will still take you in when the rest of the world is ready to throw in the towel on your failures. And what’s wrong with celebrating that?

Family is the foundation that shapes our future. It’s just one of the many things we all have in common, and that’s worth remembering, especially when many of us are so quick to point out our differences.

Families may not always be fun, but they can be funny — as long as I’m not the one fretting his own three minutes on the stage. Based upon my performance as an amateur comedian, I think I’ll stick with writing and my big dictionary. Besides, I’m running out of “F” words.

In the meantime, whatever you do — don’t pull Mark Johnston’s finger.