If the family were a fruit, it would be an orange, a circle of sections, held together but separable — each segment distinct.

Pogrebin’s simile treats “family” less as a fused, indivisible unit than as an organism made of parts: a shared rind and center that hold people together, yet with segments that can be separated without ceasing to be what they are. The image suggests a model of kinship that balances belonging with autonomy—each person retains a distinct identity, boundaries, and perhaps even a different “flavor,” while still participating in a larger whole. It also implies that separation (distance, disagreement, divorce, adulthood) need not negate familial connection; the structure can flex without total rupture. The metaphor quietly challenges idealized notions of perfect unity by normalizing differentiation within intimacy.