Friday, March 18, 2011

My Siblings

My Siblings

My family is a patchwork family, think Brady Bunch lol. :P




First up I have one half brother on my fathers side, Jason, in his mid thirties. He lives in Southern Germany. Since moving to Germany I have had the chance to establish a relationship with him and have been welcomed into the family by his mom and uncle as well. He's got a wonderful sense of humor and is all around jolly guy. I love him and his family so much.

I also have a adopted brother, John, in his late thirties, who is the half brother of my half brother. We did grow up together in the same home. He now lives in Tennessee.

I then have a step brother, Mike, from my dad's marriage we did not grow up in a home together, but we did have the same visitation dates so we did have a shared childhood, he is 2 years older then me and now lives in Texas.

I also have one step brother on my moms side from a previous marriage. He did live in the home and was around when I was growing up. He passed away when I was 11 years old. He was in his early thirties, he has cystic fibrosis. He had a heart and lung transplant but his body rejected the new organs. But he was such a jolly fellow, he always referred to me as the brat. He was told he would probably never live into adulthood so he was grateful for all the time he did have, and before he went into surgery he said he was content, he would have more time with the people he loved or go home to the Lord and either way he was at peace. He was a real inspiration to me, and I miss him a lot. His name was Dale.

Those are the siblings I am closest to and have established relationships with.

In addition:

Dale had two other brothers Dean and Galen, mid fourties. My mom raised the 3 when they were young and had a close relationship with them, I was never really close to them. More so with Dean, but over the years we lost contact. I would very much love to reconnect.

My mom's husband also has a son Matt early 20's and daughter Jennifer late 20's. We did not grow up together, though they were around we never really established close relationships. Maybe someday :)

Wooh, I told you that was gonna be long, just be glad I did not go into the family tree style technicalities of it ha. So until my mom married 2 years ago I was the only girl and the youngest out of 7 kids, 3 of which lived in the home with me to varying degrees while growing up.

I wish that I had a close bond with everyone but I realize that is hard in patchwork families and even more so with such a broad age range, we have 21- mid 40's. But I am greatful for the relationships I do have with my siblings, especially my brother in Germany, It has been wonderful getting to know him and being a part of one anothers life.




2 comments:

Formerly known as Frau said...

Coming from a patchwork family that is spread from different states and countries. I think it would be hard to establish close relationships but you have done pretty good. It must be nice to at least have some family on your side in Germany. On the flip side sometimes I'd like to trade a few of my sisters in and we are close. Have a wonderful weekend!

cathy jones said...

what an interesting and diverse family...patchwork describes it exactly! Hope you are able to reconnect someday...sounds like a family reunion would be perfect!

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