we must take care of our families wherever we find them.

The line frames “family” as something discovered and chosen as much as inherited—an ethical bond formed through circumstance, affection, and responsibility rather than blood alone. It suggests that once such bonds are recognized, they carry obligations: care, loyalty, and protection. The phrase “wherever we find them” implies mobility and contingency (family may appear in unexpected places or communities), and it also hints at a moral imperative to expand one’s circle of concern. In Gilbert’s broader thematic terrain—self-reinvention, belonging, and intimate commitments—the quote reads as a call to honor the real networks that sustain us, even when they don’t match conventional definitions.