Bind any family together that is.
I've talked about my mom before. I love her but like any mother she has a special knack to drive me straight up a wall.
Nick's parents are great--his dad is a bit nutty but his mom is a sweetheart. We get along with them pretty well.
As for aunts and uncles for our kids--well, I have a brother and so does Nick but we rarely see them. We are also close to some of Nick's cousins (well second cousins once removed? First cousins twice removed? Oh, we just call them cousins, it's easier). They have kids similar in age to Turbo and Bruiser--actually Bruiser is the baby of the bunch. And I have cousins too but they are far flung and getting together is difficult.
So Nick and I have elevated friends to the role of uncles and aunts. The nice thing about this is that you can pick your friends. Turbo gets along really well with one of Nick's close friends--S. S does all those cool uncle things like wrestle, play frisbee, foosball, go skiing and fishing, and he usually remembers Turbo at Christmas and stuff. Turbo adores him and Bruiser probably will too.
I have friends that are aunts to my boys too. K is now living in Texas but when she gets back up here to visit Turbo almost attacks her he is so excited to see her. Another friend I have recently reconnected with also lives in Texas. I hope when we get together again my kids will find her as fun as I do.
We have friends that live across the state from us that we see regularly a couple of times a year. This Fourth of July we are going to see them where they live for some camping and celebrating a 50th birthday. We have known these people for over 15 years now. Their kids are the same age as ours--mostly--and they get along well. We are all looking forward to spending time together.
With the smaller families these days you have to make your own family sometimes. We have gone about it in the best way we know how. We love our immediate family but our friends have become family that fills in the gaps left by family that falls out of touch or moves far away.
Go see Jen at Sprite's Keeper for more spins on bonds, ties, connections, etc.
Funny how that works with friends when family is out of touch or far away. I built a lovely "family" when we were living in MO. Now that we are new to Texas I get to start the process all over. The funny part is that the "custom built family" usually stays in touch better than the ones we are born with.
ReplyDeleteWe are that way too. My kids call my bff Aunt Rose. Her hubs is my hubs bff and our kids all love to play together and hang out. It works out well for us and they are truly like family
ReplyDeleteI'm definitely closer to my friends than I am to my family.
ReplyDeleteI know how it goes. My best friend is Aunt Susan to Sprite and my mom's best friend was my aunt growing up, then my second mom once I was an adult. No blood relation, but I'd rank her higher than most other family. :-)
ReplyDeleteYou're linked!
There are some moms that seem to adopt you as one of their own because you hang around their child so much.
ReplyDeleteBeing that I do not have any biological children of my own, I often wonder what kind of family member I represent to my wife's kids. Since they were both teenagers when I met my wife and are no more than 18 years younger than me, it is really difficult to say. I would hope that they consider me more of an older brother than an actual parent or Uncle.
Thanks for spinning this one up well.
It just seems more and more that we are all one. And in that we get to spend time with who we prefer and that works well be it family or 'family'.
ReplyDeleteMy husband's friends are more like his family than his "real" family. It's all about knowing who you can call in the middle of the night and who'll be there--not because they have to be but because they want to be.
ReplyDeleteIt's nice to be able to have a close knit group you can rely on, regardless of blood ties. Sometimes actual family can be more trouble than it is worth.
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