I feel we've lost something with our modern, nuclear families. Maybe it's my old world heritage. Maybe it's the fact that my older kids are my stepsons, so the idea of "blood relation" never even occurs to me. Maybe it's the fact that I have first hand knowledege about what it's like to not have the extended support system, and never want to be without it again. Maybe I was dropped on my head too many times as a baby. Who knows?
In any case, I can't limit my family just to those people that are related to me by blood, or by marriage. The closest I can come will be to list the people that get invited to Thanksgiving Dinner, Epiphany, and/or Birthday Parties. Because those of you reading this may get lost in the myriad of names, here is a guidebook ... a who's who ... so you can follow along and be a little less confised. Beware ... this is a very long post!
Each of the people below has stories for me to tell, and when I run out of things to say, you'll probably hear them. Not all of the stories are happy, or end well ... or even end at all. Some I'll have to get permission for before telling them online, as they aren't 100% my stories to tell. In any case I hope you stick with me and enjoy ...