I have been so blessed with such a wonderful family. My family is big...loud...and loving. I have inherited wonderful in-laws, and am one of the lucky ones who can say that I actually get along with them. I talk to my mother-in-law and father-in-law every night. Paige loves to skype with her Gramma and Grampa. And of course her Uncle Brendan, who never fails to make her laugh. She walks right over to the computer and says "HI!" It melts the hearts of us all. What's more, my dad and my "dad-in-law" get along amazingly. They look forward to chances they have to get together...which isn't often seeing as my in laws live in Syracuse and we live in CT, but when we do have everyone together, we're big happy family. I love my husband, and love that I was so very lucky to marry into a wonderful family.
My family is HUGE. At a normal Sunday dinner, there are anywhere from 13-25 of us. That's JUST our immediate family. Let me explain. My mom and dad divorced when I was probably 12, but I honestly have no memories of a "family" with my mom and dad in it. Seriously. We went on vacations with JUST my mom or JUST my dad. Who does that?! I think I was actually relieved when my parents split up because it was just calmer in the house. My mom married and had a son, my 13 year old brother. He's awesome. He's kind, smart, and LOVES being an uncle. I don't have a relationship with my mother's husband, at all. For some reason he just hasn't welcomed me into his family. Which is fine. This may sound callous, but I am better off without him. He just isn't someone that I think is a positive aspect of my life. My dad, however, married a woman who is A-MA-ZING! She, along with her family, welcomed us with open arms. We spent every holiday in memory with them, and never did we feel like outsiders. If you ask her mom how many grandchildren she has, she'll tell you 8. And she has her little great-grandchild, who she loves to pieces. I have never truly reflected on how lucky I am. When I said earlier that my family is HUGE....I was referring to my "step" family. But nobody in my family sees it that way. I was, and always will be a part of them. We joke that Paige actually looks and sometimes acts like she's a member of their bloodline. I mean it. She looks just like my sister, who looks like her mom if you were to see pictures from when she was young. I act like my "Mom" (I don't like to call her my stepmom, because-truth be told- she raised me)...and everyone jokes that I "must be hers." It's comical how many nuances we share. We're both anal retentive about cleanliness, and we sweep at least twice a day. The things that come out of our mouths are often mirrored.
I live for Sunday dinners. It's a chance for me to enjoy the company of the family I have come to know and love as a HUGE part of my life. They are the best thing that ever happened to me, and I am so lucky that we found each other.
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