Close Families

That was something I wasn't expecting.

I have a brother and four sisters, my brother lives in Canada and I haven't seen him for years and years. The same goes for one of my sisters who lives in Ireland. I have three sisters who all live in the same town as me but I don't get to see them very often - one of them I haven't seen for over ten years. It's been a while since I saw the other two sisters, although not quite as long as ten years. With one of them it's coming up to two years since I saw her, but I saw the other just a few months ago. So imagine how surprised I was when she turned up unannounced yesterday.

It's always nice to see family but I think that the longer it gets between visits, the less chance you've got of having anything resembling a 'close' family. My older sister is a perfect example. Ten years living in the same town but as it stands today, I don't know her address or her phone number, I don't know where she works (or IF she works), I don't know where her children live - although my nieces and nephews are not children any longer, but any kind of contact with them is out of the question.

It's not through lack of trying either, it's just the way things have turned out. There's been no arguments or falling out, but just drifting apart over the years. When one has tried to visit the other there always seemed to be something preventing it so the visit was put off till a later date, but that 'later date' never materialised.

So it was a pleasant surprise when my other sister turned up out of the blue yesterday morning. We spent the morning together talking about things in general and how she spends her days, but she also told me of how she's been out of contact with members of the family too. It's not nice to hear but in a weird sort of way, I was pleased to hear it. I was beginning to think that it was just me, that I was some sort of horrible person that they would rather not associate themselves with.

Perhaps we're not meant to be a 'close' family.