Response: Family Don’t End with Blood

Haven’t read this book yet? Obsessed with Supernatural like me? Adopt your physical copy here! Or Get your audiobook copy of Family Don’t End with Blood here!

For months now, I’ve been hyper fixated on Supernatural. This means I’m pretty much obsessed. I’ve watched the entire series 1.5 times, fallen in love with Jensen’s band Radio Company, watched an obscene amount of cast panels on Youtube and dove into books written about Supernatural or by cast members. I’ve also experienced some of their other works in an attempt to keep the cast on my screen, though nothing has had the same effect on me Supernatural. Even as I write this, Youtube is cycling through videos of panels the cast (mostly Jensen and Jared) have done at cons (conventions). So, I’m sure it’s no surprised that I happily delved into Family Don’t End with Blood with contributions from cast members and fans truly illustrating just how important and amazing the SPNFamily is.

For those of you who don’t know, this book is filled with essays written by a number of people talking about how Supernatural (SPN) have changed their lives in some of the best ways. And, these stories are just a few of the stories out there. With every year, the amount of stories grow. People talk about coping with loses, mental health struggles and meeting some of the most important people in their lives. As I read this collection, I found myself thinking two things pretty munch constantly. 1. I really, REALLY wish I could go to a con and become a part of the SPNFamily officially. I want to be in it, surrounded by it. I want to feel it, taste it and smell it (in a totally normal way). I’ve dreamt of going to a con. I’d get the gold tickets because FOMO is a real thing but, mostly, the access granted with the gold tickets would help reduce some of my anxiety because I wouldn’t have to worry about being first in line to get a seat that I can actually see the people on stage or so I don’t miss out on the perfect merch. I know what I would ask the ast to sign for me. I know what gifts I would bring for J2. I’m not sure what shirt I would wear but, seeing as how I’m not confident this will ever happen, I think I have time to figure that out. I’ve even got a list of questions that I haven’t heard asked at the panels. 2. If I wrote an essay today for this book, what would it be. I have an answer to that, too.

I remember watching the first episode of Supernatural when it aired. I had tuned in becuase I’m totally team Dean (Gilmore Girls) and while I wasn’t happy that the Dean would no longer be around Stars Hollow, I’ve always liked the supernatural so maybe I’d forgive him. If this new show was good. I was in love. I spent so much time the next day telling anyone who would listen the entire plot of the first episode at lengths that may have rivaled the actual episode while adding my own commentary and thoughts in there. These thoughts included, but wasn’t limited to, how confusing it was for me when Dean Forester would say “Dean” and someone else turned around.

I continued to watch for a couple seasons, but I was young and in a new relationship and I had yet to get to a place where my world didn’t need to center around my new boyfriend (we are now married and have been since 2013). But, about the time I was planning on getting caught up, I heard rumors that the show was ending and I thought, “I’ll wait until the show ends and then just binge the whole show.” Well, it didn’t end that year. And I heard rumors of it ending multiple seasons afterwards and still the show didn’t end. Finally, a couple of years after season 15 aired, I decided to tackle the 15 seasons of Supernatural, see how it all worked out and if all those who said it got weird after I stopped watching were right.

I’m so glad that I not only came back, but that I waited to see it. I know I’d love it if I watched it as it aired, but Sam, Dean, Cas, Jared, Jensen and Misha wouldn’t feel like some of my best friends. I know, I’ve never met Jensen, Jared and Misha and I’m sure they wouldn’t actually be friends with me, as they’re so much cooler then I am or cold ever dream of being. I never would have connected with the story like I did.

See, in those years between 2005 and 2024, I became a whole different person.I grew. I faced my trauma. I found understanding in myself. I learned that maybe I can be comfortable in my skin and that I can be loved doing it. I became a mom two more times over, became a wife. I walked away from so many toxic relationships and created new ones that have lifted me up instead of holding me down. I explored and found my own beliefs, challenged them, reassembled them until I KNOW what my beliefs are and how to live in honor of them. I tool control back from my anxiety and depression and I got to know my, until recently, undiagnosed ADHD. I even started my very own business.

So, when I got to know Supernatural and the cast of characters and started watching the people who made these characters come to life, I found home. I found voices that told me it’s ok to not be ok. It’s ok to founder. It’s ok to live in the grey because nothing is absolute. Good people sometimes do bad things. Bad people sometimes do good things. No one is all anything. I found a world in which relationships are everything and mean everything in these people. I saw the epitome of unconditional love.

In the people behind it all, I saw that it’s possible to be real. Some people really do use their platform for all the best reasons. I saw that the coolest people really are dorky and cheesy, silly and real.They are “just children” and yet, they still can change the world. I found an example for the world that you can be a man; you can be strong and manly and awesome while still being emotional and affectionate because we don’t have enough of that in our world.

I found favorite characters that prove what family really means, neurodivergent adjacent characters that are impossible not to love (Cas and Jack)which is so important as not only am I neurodivergent but so are all three of my kids. I’ve found comfort in Baby and hope and belief that anything can happen. There’s always a way. And, no one choice we make, one action we do defines us. It’s a collection of all of those things and more that make us who we are.

Maybe Supernatural and the family didn’t shape or change my life over 15 years of episodes, but they helped me find who I am; they helped me find a home. I found a family that may only be my family in my head, but count just the same. I found so much more about me through them. I found laughs, cries (don’t even get me started on the finale. I was the biggest puddle and totally broken. It was days before I could face the show or even listen to “Carry On my Wayward Son” with out breaking out into tears. And I’ve even had the opportunity to share it with my daughter. Though, she’s only watched four seasons and then hyper fixated on something else. She says she’s going to come back to Sam and Dean, though.

Oh, and did I mention that there’s a couple of scenes that no matter how I feel, no matter how tired or upset or blah I am, seeing them will make me laugh and smile? Or that on my bad days, I go to the show and the cast to get me through and help me out of a bad mood or place into something that’s at least to an “ok” place.

So, I’m glad I didn’t watch it all as it was aired because when I did jump in feet first for those 15 seasons, it was exactly when I needed it. It was the perfect time for me to get out of it what I needed to without my person demons getting in the way and blinding me from the best parts of Supernatural; the parts that effect me the most.

And that’s what I’d say if someone asked me to write an essay for a book like Family Don’t End in Blood. That’s what I’d say if asked how Supernatural has effected me. So, thank you Eric Kripke, and the entire cast and crew of Supernatural for being that safe place to go for all of us that need it. That is the legacy you leave in our hearts and in the world.

So there you have it… not that anyone asked. lol