Family

[PancaKe]

So I think my family is pretty average. I have a mum and a dad, who are both divorced, a sister who is 5 and a half years younger than me, and a brother who is 9 and a half years younger than me. I'm 20, my sister is 14 and my brother is 11.

I live with my dad, my siblings live with my mum, and they have 2 cats and 1 dog. I'm not allowed to have pets.

We don't get along with any of our cousins. We hate them all. But my brother sister and I are really close. We always hang out before church and stuff, and my sister comes out with me and my friends.

So, what's your family like? Do you get along with each other?

[Mikachu Yukitatsu]

Sorry to hear your parents divorced. This may be a sad story, too, but I have had two families already, two, if temporary substitute families don't count.

First I lived with my mother, grandmother and aunt in Merijärvi, then just with my mother in Merijärvi and Kalajoki. In 1997 I moved to a permanent substitute family in Haapavesi. It was a standard substitute family with "mother", "father" and some children as well. Some of them stayed longer, some of them just dropped in. The substitute family period ended in 2004 and then, after some events, I now live alone in Ylivieska.

I have seen my dad only once or twice and he died in August 2007. And then I got to know I have a half-brother from my father's side. I have never seen him.

My mother has taken care of that we keep in touch, but I don't contact the substitute family in Haapavesi too much.

Merijärvi is a small commune, Kalajoki, Haapavesi and Ylivieska towns. Find more about me in my topic "Truth about Mikachu Yukitatsu", but don't necro it!

[Jeff]

I have my parents, my sister (21), and three brothers (18, 15, 10). Plus my sister's getting married in about a year so that will add a brother-in-law to the family. We all get along pretty well most of the time.

Now for my extended family:
My dad's side of the family is kind of complicated, and it's hard to keep straight :P. Both of my grandparents on that side died a few years ago, and one of my aunts on that side died of cancer when I was little. My dad also has a sister and brother, both married, but only the brother has a kid. I also have two cousins on that side from the dead aunt, both of them are married and one has kids. The oldest of those kids is in college. We all don't get together very often, but I remember my cousin's two sons being big into pokemon back in the day.

Everyone on my mom's side lives pretty close to us, so we always see each other for just about every holiday and whatnot, and we're really close. Both grandparents are still alive, and I also have 1 divorced aunt and 3 uncles, along with three aunts through marriage to said uncles. I also have a grand total of 10 cousins on that side! Along with the 5 kids in my family, you can imagine family gatherings can get pretty crazy at my grandparents' house. Four of those cousins belong to the single aunt. They moved here after the divorce, so they go to the same schools as my brothers. It's funny, one of them is 10 and she'll hang out with my brother all the time when the family gets together, but she completely ignores him at school.:P My grandparents also live in the same town, same neighborhood as my aunt in fact. The rest all live in a county right next to ours so, like I said, we're close.

[classy_cat18]

You think yours is complicated? Heh, check this out.

For the family that I live with, it's just my mom, younger brother, dog, and me. My brother's nineteen and my dog's eleven. My mom's divorced and almost got remarried. My dad currently lives in Birmingham and spent a good deal of my life in Bermuda with his second wife and her children (meaning two stepbrothers and a stepsister).

My mother has three brothers and two sisters. Most of them married more than once, so I have multiple uncles- and aunts-in-law. I have first cousins, second cousins, and I may even have third cousins in a couple of years! I have to keep up with my grandmother's relatives (Gholston) and my grandfather's relatives (Powell) because I attend both family reunions! Five years ago, my oldest relative on my mother's side was my great-grandfather's brother, whom I just called Uncle (nicknamed Rooster). He hit the triple digits before he passed away. We're concentrated most in Alabama and Ohio, but I've had reunions in Texas, Canada, and we were planning another one in Florida. Let's see...*counts on fingers*...more than twenty first cousins that I can think of right now. First marriages, second marriages, and babies born but did not result in a marriage...not sure.

And that's my mother's side. I don't know much about my father's side. I think that's where the autism comes from because my cousin and his father are a more than a little odd.

[Mikachu Yukitatsu]

Oh yes and we had a lot of pets in the substitute family, including cats, dogs, sheep and others. We had no pets when I lived with my real mother.

[Bulbasaur4]

Wow, everyone has really complicated interesting family situations. ^_^;; I don't find mine to be super interesting... although my mother's side of the family is pretty messed up.

I live in three places every year and it rotates, or at least has since college. I live in WI during the college year, and then I live in Minnesota with my father or in Los Angeles with my mother. They divorced just as I went into college and it was pretty out of the blue. Reasons they divorced I'd rather not talk about. I'm a lot closer to my mom than I ever was before now though, and it is sorta nice because we talk more like sisters now.

My dad's side of the family:
I like to call them the steadfast and normal family. Seriously, they're all amazing. Every single friend who has been to my family's group gatherings has loved them because they have a way of including you and making you feel welcomed. They listen to everyone and no one in our family has ever hated another or had huge disagreements that weren't solved through talking it out. This family consists of two uncles, two aunts, my grandmother, her husband, and three cousins. The youngest uncle divorced and remarried, but we all saw it coming and it didn't cause too much drama. We get together for birthdays, Christmas, thanksgiving, and lots of times inbetween- especially in the summer. It helps that the family is connected by my father and my two uncles, who are his brothers. :3 They all look almost identical and VERY Norweigan/Swedish.

It's also notable that every year, my father's extended side of the family (that means beyond my extended family) meets up at a lake in Minnesota where we rent out the place for a week. They've done it for over 45 years and do it ever single year. So I know all my 2nd counsins, 3rd counsins and more relatives than I know what to put labels on. We have our entire history mapped out from Norway, originating from the names Sortland and Tiegland.

Mom's side of the family:
My mom has one older brother, one older sister and a twin sister. My grandparents are also still alive on this side of the family and they're adorable and still in love. They were all raised on a farm and my grandfather just recently sold his farm and they moved in town. My uncle is in his third marriage and he, himself is stable although my four cousins from him are sorta crazy. One of them is a felon, the other did similiar things and they both had kids already and there are just more weird stories surrounding them. My other two cousins are crazy as well- one of them can't stop getting into accidents and the other can't stop dating horrible guys! lol. The family has a lot of drama overall, usually spurred by my mother's twin sister and there's never a day where I'm not hearing someone gripe about someone else. I love them all the same though! xD

There, if you read all that, I feel bad for you. You just wasted time... lol

[Drago]

Broken marriage = TPM membership?? So this is where all the children end up...

Anyhow, my mom and dad are separated (keeping in with the theme here), I live with my dad here in Australia, while my mom's all the way over in Canada. I've gotten used to it, seeing as I've been here for eleven years now, but it still sucks that in those eleven years I've only seen my mother three times.

My sister initially lived with my dad and I, but she moved out back in '03, so now it's just kinda my dad and I. Though I've been spending more time with my girlfriend, so I've essentially started to ditch my dad too...
I get along with my whole family pretty well, we don't irk each other too much at all - it's always a little upsetting to me to hear when people don't get on with their relatives.

[shazza]

My father has been married three times. His first marriage he produced a daughter, who is now about 30 and thus my half-sister. I've only met her about 3-4 times in my life, but we get along quite well. She is due to give birth in about two weeks so I'll be a half-uncle, and my father will be a grandfather. My dad's second marriage was my mum and I'm the only child from that marriage, and thus no proper siblings. As many of you know, my mum passed away in May 2001. My dad got married again in late 2003 and I gained a step mum, a step brother and a step sister out of that. The step sister now has a baby and is engaged to a Mr. Kelly (her first name is Kelly, so she'll be Kelly Kelly!)

I was my mum's second child and I thus have another half sister out there who I only met once as a baby (there's a few photos of it). She'd be in her mid-late 30s by now.

My dad is 59 and the oldest of 5 other siblings who all live in the same town (one brother, four sisters) and I have about 40 cousins from his side of the family. Only about 5-6 are my friends, the rest are acquaintances. After my grandad died in May 2007, one of the sisters became extremely money greedy and thus caused some family squabbles.

My mum only had one younger brother (who died in September 2006), and he had two children of his own from his second marriage. I talk to these two cousins almost everyday (male: 23, female: 19) and see them a few times a year and consider them very close to me.

I'm extremely interested in constructing a family tree for both sides of my family.

[Jeff]

Wow, so far I'm the only one who's posted and whose parents are still together. They've been married 25 years as of this year. Also, my grandparents are celebrating their 50th anniversary next year. With that and my sister's wedding, it's going to be a big year for the family.

[Dark Scizor]

My parents are divorced. Both have remarried.

I have an older brother and sister that are 7 and 6 years older than me, respectively, and a younger brother who is 1 year younger than me.

My older brother used to live about 15 miles away, but when he got married in May, he bought a house next to the one we just bought...probably so that my mother can babysit for him (because he is a lazy sod) when his kid comes about next Spring. My older sister lives in London with her boyfriend. I lived alone for 2 years for 6th form and moved back home with my mother when I started Uni last year, my younger brother lives with us too.

I have 2 step brothers and 1 step sister (all on my mother's side), who are nice and I do like them. But without trying to sound like too much of a snob, are a bit common and you really can't go out in public anywhere (like a family meal) without them saying something inappropriate, acting improper or just generally being childlike. Seeing as they're 21, 25 and 27, it really isn't right for them to be so infantile. They're also mudbloods (Chinese/English mix)

I have 3 cousins (2 guys, 1 girl) on my dad's side of the family who live rather close. I can't fathom how many on my mother's side since she has 8 siblings, but they're all in China, so I don't care.

Everyone gets along rather well in the family, my younger and I more so because of the small age difference. Same with my cousins, since we're all within 2 years of each other.

And if it didn't clock through properly at first, my brother's wife is pregnant and I'm expecting to become an uncle around Spring time.

[mistysakura]

I have a mum and a dad, who are both divorced

Naw, your mom's divorced and your dad isn't :P

Anyway, my parents are still together. It's their twenty-fifth anniversary this month, which is exciting. I'm an only child. My dad lives in Hong Kong, while my mum and I live in Australia. I was born in Hong Kong, and we all lived there until I was twelve, when my mum and I moved to Australia so I could get a better education (plus most of my mum's family is in Australia anyway). I go back and visit him once or twice a year. It's not as hard as it sounds, which is a bit sad; my dad and I get along just fine (in fact, I don't remember the last time we argued), but perhaps that's not a good thing, because the reason we don't argue is that we're too bloody distant. We're both prickly people. So yeah, it's easier than it sounds.

I have nine cousins on my dad's side and four on my mum's. On my dad's side, they're all older than me by at least twelve years, so we're not that close. On my mum's side, they're my age, but strangely enough, we're not close either. We used to be when we were kids, but then we got self-conscious under the watchful eyes of our respective parents... But things are getting better lately.

[DarkestLight]

Congrats to them Jeff. :D

Hrm. I'm a lil different...in family structure because its so big x_X.

My mom and dad never got married, for one. That was the major thing I noticed before I posted-that mostly everyone's parental units had been separated. I'm a only child from my mom and dad's pairing.

My mom is the 5th of 7 from my grandmother, but the 5th of 9 from my grandfather-there are two half sisters that they have and they sorta get along well with them. One uncle of mine passed away 3 years on that side. They're the side I grew up with, so I know my cousins very well on that end. I have only 8 immediate cousins from that side, but alot of the older ones are having kids, so my cousin count is rising dramatically.

Now. My mom got married for the first time, in 2005. That added three step-sisters that I'm ok with. I say ok because I don't see them. One is in college and the other lives with my mom and her husband in NC. The oldest one lives somewhere in NY, bu we never cross paths.

Fathers side. Here we go. He's the oldest of 10. He has had 4 children throughout his life, and he got married once as well, in 1996. That gained me I think 2 more brothers, but I never see/talk to them,so they are foreign people to me (and I hate the #$%^#% he married. Muslim faith or not, she's a damn snide $%^$%^ and must be eliminated from the planet.) He was better off alone -.-. But now I feel kinda bad cause he lives alone after he figured out how just horrid she is.

I went to a reunion on his side, and met two of my half-sisters(ages 19&16)-whom I instantly became close with-because we look uncannily alike. Hence I now just say sister, cause there's no half anymore. I went to visit the oldest one (32?) in FL, and hell yeah that was a fun time.

Now, I'm pretty sure all but two of my uncles/aunts on that side have at least 2 children, so I am positive my cousin count is in the mid 20's-damn near 30's from there. I'm only really close with 3 specific cousins form that end-cause they were the only one NOT living in Antigua/Dominique. Never met my grandparents on that side, and I still have a grandfather from that end-whom I intend to meet cause I swear our genes don't change x_x. I tried a family tree once, and I lost it. I was so irate....but I may do one again.

And well, that's pretty much it. I know of a bunch of his cousins on his side too, so yeah. Just West Indian birthdays all the time.

[Little_Pikachu]

Hm, my parents have been married for 30+ years, they argue a lot but never to a separation level. I have a brother who's a year and a half older than me, I get along with him but don't see him very often.

Extended family, I have one grandparent left, just my Grandad on my mums side. I have 2 uncles on my mums side (had 3, one committed suicide last year), one has 2 kids and one step kid, one is a baby and the others are like 11 - 12 so I wouldn't really have any association with them. My uncle who died had 3 kids, but they live in London and are a about 5 years younger than me so again I would never really have much connection with them.
My dad has one brother and one sister, I really don't know anything about his sister, his borther has 2 children of a similar age to me, they don't keep in touch with that family much, they don't dislike eachother or anything, just don't massivley care.

So other than my parents, my brother and maybe my grandad, I don't really have much connection to the rest of my family except maybe a Christmas card. I think we just keep ourselves to ourselves.

[MToolen]

My parents are still together after just more than 20 years. We have two dogs, two cats, and a younger brother.

My mom has five siblings, each of whom has at least one spouse and at least one child, making for eighteen relatives on that side (including grandparents; my grandma and oldest aunt are deceased). Most live close and are pretty devout Christians, so it's very comfortable spending time around them.

Now, my dad has two brothers from my grandpa's first marriage. We had to implement a number system to keep everyone in order. I'm 1.1.1.1 (first wife, first kid, first wife of kid, first son of kid). My dad's parents have both been married and divorced three times and have had at least one kid per marriage, bringing this total, including great-grandparents, to 27. Now, this doesn't count everyone I see on this side of the family. My dad's mom has two siblings and his dad was one of twelve so there's great aunts and uncles and first and second cousins all around. This side is all spread out, from around here to spots in Texas and Kansas. Furthermore, they're more of borderline Catholics; no offense to actual Catholics is meant here.

Then, since I'm probably getting married in the next couple of years, my girlfriend is also from still-married parents and also has a cat, a dog, a snake, freshwater and saltwater fish, and a little brother. I can't quite remember how many cousins or aunts she has, but I know both sets of her grandparents are still together; her family is far more widespread than mine, with members in Iowa, Idaho, Alaska, and New England somewheres.

This is how I can go to a funeral for a great aunt and meet fifty people related to me who all know me but whom I cannot recall.

[Crystal Mew]

My dad died when I was 8, so since then my mom has raised me and my siblings alone, she never remarried (didn't want to, I think she still loves my dad though he died 14 years ago) my younger brother is 20, and my younger sister is 16. We're all very close to each other and I get along with them. My grandma also lives close, and we're close to her too.

I have another grandpa, my dad's dad who lives like..5 minutes away but we only see him maybe 1-2 times a year. quite sad....same with our 2 cousins who live with him. My family really doesn't get a long with the rest of the family so we kind of keep to ourselves for the most part. Though I do talk to my other cousin who lives here through myspace!

my mom has two brothers and she doesnt get along with either of them at all so hardly ever see them...and we hardly see our dad's sister anymore either. I kinda wish our family was closer, but my siblings and I all agreed that we'll be really close when we get married and have kids unlike our parents and their siblings.

[PancaKe]

I kinda wish our family was closer, but my siblings and I all agreed that we'll be really close when we get married and have kids unlike our parents and their siblings.

I say the same things to my brother and sister. I make them swear that when we all grow up and get married that they'll make their kids be nice to my kids so that all our kids are friends. :D