By now you may have noticed the family of elephants in the banner at the top of the page. As I combed the web looking for the perfect representation of family and love and bonding I paged through hundreds of pictures of laughing families.

I looked at cartoon representations. I looked at photographs of parents cuddling their children. But I couldn't help wondering if I was limiting myself. My vision of 'family' may be different from yours. We look different, our children are different colors, different ages and genders and I didn't find any that appealed to me as that 'exceptional family' that everyone could relate to.

And then I found "Elephant Family in the Forest" and realized they were just what I wanted. An elephant family is extremely close. The adults defend the children from predators, teach them, love them and shelter them until they are old enough to stand on their own. They lead them by example, nose to tail, through the wilds of life.

I saw them and I knew that the elephants epitomized a family unit in today's world. You might be a single parent with friends who stand as parent figures to your child. You may belong to a large extended family filled with cousins and aunts and uncles. And you may be the nuclear family with husband and wife and 2.6 children (although how you managed that .6 I'll never know!

However you look at it, the elephants just seem to fit.

I later found the artist and was impressed by his other designs. You can find more of this artist's work by clicking here.