How close are you with your extended family?

Hello mansha and thanks so much for this post! I am 31yo and my entire life, up until the last couple of years, my family has been the same way. We would get together for every holiday and pretty much every weekend that we could finagle even if there was no real excuse to. Sometimes we would do cookouts, others we would play cards, or simply just sit around and catch up on whats been going on in everyone's lives. These last couple of years have been quite different though as a few family members, including myself, have been noticing the amount of control and manipulation that other members put onto the family. As a result the family has started to drift apart, which was sad at first, and still somewhat bothers me as I miss the days we were so close, but some people are just not willing to change, even if it means at the cost of relationships. At this moment in time I used to be really close to my grandparents, who were always more like parents or friends because my mother and stepfather are going through a divorce, and my mother being the control freak that she is, she has alienated them from both my stepfather and myself. At first it was heartbreaking but I've come to terms with the fact that they, my grandparents, knew her entire life how controlling and manipulative she was and always will be, so if they're buying into her sob stories, all the more power to them! My uncle actually shares a building with us were we live, but again because of my mothers controlling manipulative nature, he doesn't speak to any of us, which is difficult at times as I miss my cousin (whose ten) a great deal. Other members of the family were smart enough to move away from the controlling manipulative ways of some of these family members, but they've always been treated as outsiders, or the black sheep of the family, simply because they're not willing to conform to what others expect and demand of them. Now I can't say that I blame them. Thankfully I do still keep in contact with one cousin, her mother (my aunt), and my stepfather, but I've pretty much written off everyone else because if I won't let strangers or friends take advantage of me, I'm sure not going to let family! They can love and accept me for who I am or not at all, it really doesn't matter to me anymore. Anyway, I'm getting somewhat off on a tangent here, so I'll just leave it at that and hope that others are having better luck with their families. Thanks again for the post and GOOD LUCK to all! Happy MyLotting! ~Dee~

i am close to m yextneded family and i can see and feel it because whn i had problems with my hubby about his health they always with me and concerned about what happen if i am alone.

For the most part my family is close, but we have our issues as well as all other families. We have alot of mileage in our family, I am 1100 miles from anyone in my family so making get togethers and family affairs is hard for me, but I still take the time out and make it to as many as I can. And other times they plan things around me coming home, which is always nice. It's a nice way to get everyone together, seeing new family members who were recently born, or married. Our family seems to grow more and more threw out years.

I used to be real close to my extended family up until about 3 years ago,when i moved to a different state.we used to meet up once a week at someones house and have a night at with about 15 of aunts and cousins.also about once a month go to the movies,how i miss that.they all still get together.