To us, family means putting your arms around each other and being there.

The line defines “family” less as a legal or biological category than as a practice of care: physical affection (“putting your arms around each other”) paired with reliability (“being there”). Framed in the inclusive “to us,” it presents a lived, domestic ethic associated with Barbara Bush’s public image as First Lady—emphasizing steadiness, mutual support, and closeness over status or achievement. The quote’s simplicity is part of its force: it treats emotional presence as the core measure of familial bonds, implying that what sustains families is not perfection but consistent, embodied solidarity in ordinary life and in crisis.