Is your family close?
By nikkiwith
@nikkiwith (1074)
Australia
August 15, 2007 10:50pm CST
I envy the "BIG" families. Usually with a background of Italian or Greek, these families are close with all their family members! Cousins, Uncles, Aunts, and even second cousins! They all stick together and help each other out when in need. I would love to be part of a "BIG" family. Unfortunately i come from a broken home. My mother left when i was 2, my sister and i still see her but we are not close because she was never a mother to us. Our father brought us up but he was emotionally absent because he is an alcoholic. I have cousins, Aunts, Uncles, ect, ect.....but i am not close with any of them, there are some that i haven't even met! I am close with my sister, but our love for each other is "unspoken".We don't tell each other "i love you sis", and we don't hug. How about you, are you close with your family?
4 people like this
12 responses
@Marie2473 (8512)
• Sweden
16 Aug 07
Me, my mom, dad and my 2 brothers are very close but the rest of the family leaves alot to wish for. When I grew up I also wondered what it would be like to be a part of a big family like that but now I am just really happy to be close to thepeople I love the most =)
2 people like this
@nikkiwith (1074)
• Australia
16 Aug 07
Yeah, but wouldn't it be great to be part of a big family. I appreciate what i have though, i wouldn't swap it for anything.
3 people like this
@nikkiwith (1074)
• Australia
17 Aug 07
I don't see my family because of the way my father brought me up.
@cutepenguin (6431)
• Canada
16 Aug 07
We're not a huggy family either, but I'm very close to my cousins and to my mother's cousins' kids. Our family is big, and I have cousins I've never met, but I do see quite a few of them on a regular basis.
2 people like this
@pinnibabu (135)
•
16 Aug 07
I have been brought up in a joint family. I never liked being at home because of the constant fights. Both my parents were working. I missed talking to someone after coming back from school and college. I craved for attention which I never got. Now I have reached a stage in life where in I prefer nuclear familar. Can never imagine myself living in a joint family. This is due to the impact of my growing up days.
@nikkiwith (1074)
• Australia
16 Aug 07
I'm sorry for your "lonely and disfunctional" youth. Mine sucked as well. I am making sure that i don't make the same mistakes my parents made. My daughter has my attention (when i'm not on my lot, LOL :D ) and my heart.
2 people like this
@Intrusion (5)
• United States
16 Aug 07
I come from a middle eastern family, and my family is like the Greeks. We stick together through everything, and help each other out all the time. It's a great thing to have that's sometimes unappreciated.
2 people like this
@nikkiwith (1074)
• Australia
16 Aug 07
You are so lucky. I hope you don't take it for granted.
2 people like this
@nikkiwith (1074)
• Australia
16 Aug 07
It's something people should never take for granted. You are very lucky.
2 people like this
@rogue13xmen13 (14403)
• United States
16 Aug 07
We are close, but we are getting smaller in numbers because of disease. Cancer and diabetes have been Hell for my family.
@nikkiwith (1074)
• Australia
17 Aug 07
That's terrible. My dad has diabetes type 1 and i just recently found out that it can be hereditory. I have a low grade cancer of the uterus, i have to go for another pap smear soon to see if it's still there, fingers crossed that it went away.
@horsesrule (1957)
• United States
16 Aug 07
I am close to my adult daughter and her three sons. In fact we live together. I moved in with them. We do see my parents often since they live in the same town, at least a few times a month but that's not always a pleasure! They are crabby and negative so we avoid them as much as possible. For the holidays, we try to get together with my parents and my brother and his wife. That's all the family we have here. Well, except for grandma in the rest home but she's really mean and scary! Yikes! I wish we had a bigger, loving family. I rather envy the people who do have that.
2 people like this
@nikkiwith (1074)
• Australia
16 Aug 07
It would be nice to have a huge family that you are close to, but i guess i'm grateful that i have any family at all. There are some people who have no one, and that is sad.
2 people like this
@lecanis (16647)
• Murfreesboro, Tennessee
16 Aug 07
Other people in my family are close, but I am not close to them. My family is severely messed up. People like my mother believe that family is more important than anything and that no matter what family members do to you, they should still be close. I don't agree, and because of the abuse I suffered at the hands of my family, I am not close to them.
I often envy people who are close to their families as well. I have a lot of friends and coworkers who visit with their families often, or even have their parents watch their children while they're at work and such. Those are things I'll never have, because even if I lived close enough I would never trust anyone in my family enough to leave them alone with my child.
1 person likes this
@lecanis (16647)
• Murfreesboro, Tennessee
17 Aug 07
I was in a similar situation. I lived with my grandmother, and her husband molested me throughout my childhood. I remember going around telling just about anyone who would listen to me, including family members, desperately trying to get someone to get me out of the situation, and yet no one did. Even my grandmother, who knew it was true, because she said she couldn't interfere with the decisions of the 'head of the household'. Grrrrr.
@nikkiwith (1074)
• Australia
17 Aug 07
Yeah most of my family is pretty messed up too. I was molested by my auntie's partner when i was 13, and when i told the family, she stayed with him, married him and had a baby with him, and now she just had a second child to him. DENIAL is a very sad thing.
1 person likes this
@sandgroper1 (629)
• Australia
17 Aug 07
Join the club coz im with you. My family is quite large as my mum is one of 7, but they are a disfunctual mob. We are basically the black sheep or self imposed black sheep. Lots of family dramas over the years has caused my brothers and i to pull away from the family and we have very little to do with any of them, in some ways it a little lonely to not have a large family to fall back or be able to rely on but it has just made us all the more stonger within our own little family and friends circle. We do tell each other of our love for one another and hug hello and goodbye and ring each other at least 3-4 times a week.
@nikkiwith (1074)
• Australia
17 Aug 07
LOL :D There's always a black sheep. I was the black sheep when growing up, but now i am on my way to a healthy mind and a functional life-style, as for the rest of my family, well they all remain in DENIAL about their dysfunctional lifestyles.
@MisterPlus (1915)
• Philippines
16 Aug 07
I am from the Philippines and most of the families here are very close .. As in most live in an extended family .. Living with aunts and uncles and grandparents in one roof..
1 person likes this
@nikkiwith (1074)
• Australia
17 Aug 07
I would love to come from an extended family. The more LOVE the better!
@ethereal_flower (124)
• Philippines
17 Aug 07
it's really great to be really close with one's family. my family is closely knit. we always make it a point to be present during special occasions like my grandma's birthday, Christmas, New year, etc. we live apart but it's so great because we don't mind the distance because once a year we would gather and just talk and be there for each other. well, once you start your own family, you can start this practice of staying close because it's really great.
