Are you and your family close to each other?

auroranflash

I just deleted my mom and sister on FB for posting racial/extremely right-wing political/religious nonsense. :indifferent:

I love them, though, just their opinions are cray.

.... I like my dad.:drinker:

In my case, I put them under "restricted access" so they can't see my posts, pics, etc. plus I set myself as invisible in fb chat to them... They're overly religious & conservative that it gets on my nerves. Sorry but I think I have a right to my own privacy.

I guess I could've done that. It was suggested to me AFTER I had deleted them. I haven't finked with it enough to know, honestly. It was a little satisfying. I'm way too sarcastic and they misunderstand/take personally everything I say. :laugh: I was homeschooled growing up, and I described myself as having been locked in the closet for most of my life....... that didn't go over too well. :devil:

bcattoes

For the most part yes, absolutely. I am close to all my immediate family and communicate with most weekly and some daily. But I come from a really big family with more than 50 first cousins. Many are like siblings, others I barely know.

12by311

Yes! My mom was my best friend (lost her 4 years ago to breast cancer) and I'm extremely close to my dad and brother.

My inlaws are amazing and supportive. We don't agree on everything, but who does? My husband's parents were actually best friends with my mom and dad while in high school.

I have a very large extended family that's close. I have two distant cousins who are my very best guy friends.

BAMFMeredith

I would say we're very close on both my mom's side and dad's side, although in different ways. On my mom's side, we're all in Texas and see each other frequently, talk all the time, and if one person has a problem the WHOLE family knows in like 10 minutes. Kinda nice that everyone is so supportive, but also really annoying at times lol. Your very typical southern family.

On my dad's side, we remain close via facebook. His entire side of the family lives in the Baltimore, MD area, and my sister, 1 of my brothers, and I all live here in Austin, so logistically it's tough to see everyone very often. But I have to say my family up there is amazing. They are some of the kindest, most caring people on Earth and I know if I ever needed anything, now that my dad has passed away, my aunt would be here in a heartbeat. We're hoping to make it up to MD next summer to take my son out to Ocean CIty with the rest of the family (they take an annual beach trip, the WHOOOOOLE family every summer). That side of the family is very traditional Catholic, but not in the condemning "feel like your being judged all the time" way, more like in the if you're ever in trouble they'll open their homes/arms to you and pray for you anytime you're struggling. I honestly could not ask for a better family, regardless of how spread out we are.

IronPlayground

I'm not close with my family other than my parents. We moved from Ohio to Mississippi when I was 3 years old. So, I was never around them for more than a week a year. If that. I don't have brothers or sisters either. I will say that my family, even though we aren't close and have very different views on life, is supportive and I know I could count of them for anything.

My wife's family is very close. We see them often. They only live about 3 hours away. My parents only live an hour away.

k8blujay2

I'm an American... and I am close to my family... be it my in laws, extended family or immediate family... We are definitely the type of people that only we can mess with each other... no one else can. I don't know what I would do without my family... I always tell my husband that if we move and we have a choice, I don't want to be more than 6 hours away from some type of family... whether that's his or mine, extended or immediate...

grum84

Nope. There are whole parts of my extended family that I just kind of came across. My family had never even spoken about them. When asked about the extended family, mine just said they don't talk to them. I am close with one of my grandmas, but have literally walked into my parents home and pissed them off in 30 seconds...shortest trip back home ever. I love hanging out with my friends that have the big, close families though. They always make me feel so welcomed, I am even unofficially adopted into a couple of them.

4x4play

I am super close to my family. I have only one brother and he passed away back in 07 so it's been really hard not having him around to talk to. My mom and I talk everyday and well my dad.. God I love him. I never imagined my life without my brother so I find it very hard at times.

I really can't express it enough for families to try to put things behind and get along. I know I don't know all the situations but if there was one thing I could do...I would have my brother back. He was my best friend. And not a day goes by that I don't miss him like crazy. So to me family is very important.

cabaray

I am very close with my parents. They actually gave us 3 acres next to them to build a house, so we are next door neighbors. My brothers live close. I talk with one of them more than the other. We are all three very different personalities. I have about 40 first cousins on my dad's side of the family. I'm close with several of them. Some of them are quite a bit older than me, so we aren't real close. All of my grandparents have passed, but I was close with all of them as well.

DaGsGirl

Nope, dont speak to anyone in my family and im FAR better off for it.

saxmaniac

No, not at all. Not because of abuse or drama or anything negative. It's a very formal, parent/child relationship where you never talk about anything personal or deep.

I probably get along better with my in-laws than my own family.

bluegrasschica

I am very close to my family. We get together at least twice a week. Some of us cousins go out and have fun. We get the whole family together for all the holidays. It's like 35 people on my moms side and keeps growing. We also go to the lake in the summer for a weekend and all hangout. It's a blast. we always have a fun time. My dads side is like 25 people and growing so we hae a huge family. It keeps things interesting that's for sure! :bigsmile:

SoViLicious

I have four sisters. Two of which i talk to consistently and two that I choose to love at a distance. I come from a family that VC Andrews would cream to write about. Dysfunctional is too nice of a word to describe us. But alas, we cannot change where we came from but we can decide not to let it define who we are.

That and seeking therapy.

poodlepaws

Sadly no. I have quite a few friends who are extremely close with their families and I have to admit it makes me extremely jealous. Unless it's a holiday or something like that, my family is rarely in the same place at the same time and the only time I see my brothers and their families.

rachey_v

I am much closer to my Stepmum and her new boyfriend than I am to my real Dad... in fact we visit her often and tend to not let him know when we're up that way (they only live 8 miles apart) but if he can't be assed to make the effort, nor can I. Family doesn't always mean blood!!

gwduker

I can emphatically say yes! My brothers/inlaws/cousins and I love spending time and hanging out together. In fact I'd rather hang with them, then friends. At get togethers we always have a blast and catch up and joke around, dance, etc. When my mom and MIL came to stay with us for a month (during my DW pregnancy) my "American" friends were perplexed and thought that it too hard for them to deal with. IT WAS GREAT! I didn't have to cook and clean as much and I had more "free" time to do stuff.
I also believe that because of having a great family, there is lots of support in a positive manner which makes life much, much easier compared to having negative family support which can make it a much more difficult life to deal with.

A.C.E. Certified Personal/Group FitnessTrainer
IDEA Fitness member
Kickboxing Certified Instructor
Been in fitness for 28+ years and have studied kinesiology and nutrition

This. If it wasn't for my brothers, sisters, nephews, nieces, I wouldn't know what to do. Camping, fishing, hunting, playing music in the band, holidays, ext. all spent with the family and it is great!

smkcx

We used to be; We used to go to my grandma's every sunday for a family get together with all my cousins, aunts/uncles. It was nice, lots of food and a house crammed full of people.

I dont know what happened, I guess we all grew up and they decided they wanted to do different things with their time (youngest cousin is now 17) ~ last family function was christmas dinner. Aside from me, my fiance & our son, it was just my grandma, my handicapped uncle and my grandma's 6mth old grandson shes raising. But it was still nice, I enjoy my grandma's cooking and company, more for me I guess.

Carrot1971

I am close with one of my sisters and one of my brothers. I am the youngest of 5 and they were all out when I was little. As adults, I am very close with my oldest sister who lives in Chicago. My other sister lives 20 minutes from me and if we were not sisters we would NOT be friends. Two very different people. My oldest brother was over my house every weekend for 2+ years until he moved to Maine. I miss him terribly. My other brother lives in Florida and we talk maybe once a year. As for my mother...not so much. We have our....issues.

UnderConstructionLuis

No, not close with my immediate family (mom, dad and brother). However, my uncle (dad's twin brother) and his family and i are very close. He has 2 sons that i am pretty close to, 1 more than the other. I have another cousin from my dad's side who i am very close to as well. Other than that, not very close to any other people in my family. Too many reasons to list. For me, i have a handful of friends that i are closer to me than my family. I consider them just as important and the feelings mutual.

jboccio90

I am super close with my immediate family. I see them twice a week and talk to my mother almost daily, partially because i have a child and they want to be a major part of her life.

I am however not close with my bio dad, as he is a d-bag but i was blessed with a step dad that i view 100 percent at my dad.

beautifulneah

Nope, I wish. I am more like the black sheep if any thing and hardly accepted.

SPBROOKS68

My family and in-laws live about 12 miles from me at the most. Talk to my Dad and Mom every day and my brother a few times a week. Have giant cookouts at my in-laws around the pool and all my family come - Everyone is very supportive of each other and I love it!!

alpha1029

I am very close with my mom's side of the family. Everyone on that side, including aunts, uncles, cousins, and even random floating friends that we have taken into the fold, are the most amazing people. We used to go bowling every week to catch up, but as people got busier we now settle for a game night every couple of months. But we are always connected and hanging out. My husband thought it was really weird how close my family was when he first started getting to know them, he had no idea that families could actually get along that well. He reminded me just how lucky I am.

My dad's side of the family, not as much. I'd like to get to know them better but I've always been a bit of a black sheep on that side. I think that I am just too silly and none of them really go for silliness. All my little cousins love me though because we watch the same cartoons, like talking about superhero movies, and don't mind getting dirty playing outside.

jennifer52484

Yes very. Talk to my family daily via phone or text. Get together with aunts uncles and cousins for every birthday. It's a nice tradition we have. I love my family. I also love my husbands family. I am close with most of them too.

luv_lea

Yes. My brother and I have always been pretty close. His daughters are like my daughters. Knocking when visiting each others houses does not exist.

The rest of my family (on my moms side) like cousins and my grandma....we can go months without talking and when we talk/see each other again it's like we just talked yesterday.

Now my dad's family.....not so much.

buffybabe

my family is extremely close...people can't believe that I call my mom every day and visit my parents every weekend. My sister is actually living with me this summer so she can work with me. I love being around my family. My fiance's family is no where near as close. It's somewhat strange, they are Chinese, and my experience with most of the Asian people I have known is a very very close knit family. His is quite the opposite. ALthough they live together, they are not involved in eachother's lives or have any kind of emotional connection. I am looking forward to us being married, and hopefully being very close to eachother and our future family :-) I think it is very important

Both my parents and inlaws only live an hour away and we're usually visiting one or the other every other weekend. Sometimes both.

A.C.E. Certified Personal/Group FitnessTrainer
IDEA Fitness member
Kickboxing Certified Instructor
Been in fitness for 28+ years and have studied kinesiology and nutrition

yeah i think that is great! haha my inlaws don't really seem to care if i visit them or not...i'm not really their ideal daughter in law

hellokathy

I'm really close to my mom, as in in "friends" close. Haven't talked to my dad for a whole of 10 years this Christmas. Rarely see any of the extended family. I wish I had one of those "We stick up for each other" families, especially a good father, but it's not happening so yeah...

spicypepper

My family is a little bit dysfunctional and crazy all rolled into one! I was close to my family growing up, but when I got old enough to form my own opinions and views; the crap hit the fan.

I've spent the majority of my adult life separated from my family, and we use to do EVERYTHING together. Every weekend we'd be at one family members house (cousins, uncles/aunts, grandparents), but when I turned 18 and started dating my hubby things changed. They didn't like the fact that I chose him over family, that I changed political sides, that I thought for myself instead of them thinking for me (kinda like a cult really).

It wasn't until the past 5 years or so that my mother and I started getting along better. They've spent the majority of my 17 year marriage not wanting to get to know my husband and only in the past 8 months have they finally realized that I married a terrific man, wonderful father and loving husband. We're just now starting to go to family get together's again; but they are very trying given the craptastic events we've been through (can you say white trash brawls?).

I had to resort to the fact that I will never have that traditional mother/daughter daughter/father relationship and I hope and pray to God that my children will never be treated the way that I was.

macpatti

We are all very close. We talk practically every day, whether via text, FB, or on the phone. We live in different cities in Texas, but we visit as often as we can. I love my nephews (I have no neices) as if they were my own children.

Long_and_Lean

Unfortunately not. I don't speak to either of my parents. My mom divorced my dad when I was 13, and she did it in kind of a ****ty way -- left while he and I were out of the country, didn't say a word, took all her stuff. I didn't speak to her for over 10 years, tried to get back in touch for a little while, but she since has a new life, new daughter (who is still in middle school), and is in complete denial about what happened. Takes zero responsibility and spends most of her time bashing my dad and treating me like a burden rather than a daughter, so I said eff that and stopped speaking to her. My dad, on the other hand, is still bitter about all of this over 15 years later, to the point where I can't have a normal conversation with him. He views everything through the lens of the past, and I have to walk on eggshells around him for fear of setting him off. After 15 years of this crap, I said enough is enough. I told him that i wish he would move on, and that even though I've tried to help him, it doesn't seem to make a difference. I told him how much it hurt me that nobody ever asked if I was ok when I was a kid, because the two of them were so wrapped up in their own drama. I told him that I've made a big effort to get past things and that it's much better now (I have a wonderful husband and in-laws whom I hold very dear and am close to), and that I wish he could embrace a new life with me. He stopped speaking to me after that. He's so full of anger that he can't see clearly. It makes me very sad and I think about it every day.

/whiny rant. Sorry about that folks.