extended family
All about how to stay connected, strengthen ties and talk politics with your big, happy extended family.
Back In The Woods
I always enjoyed spending time with my cousins when growing up. We would play Tarzan and Jane and our youngest sister was Cheetah. We had told her we picked her up at the zoo, so she was a willing participant. And of course I was Tarzan. We spent many days when we were young playing on the farm. We are close to those cousins to this day. I always like seeing them and catching up on what they are doing in their life. In the next town I would spend time with a couple other cousins close to my age. One of those cousins lived with me when I was a single dad with my sons. The boys hated that as he would always tell on them or stop them from watching their favorite television shows. I didn't mind because as a parent of teens, it takes more than one pair of eyes to watch over them. The cousins really are some of my favorite people.
By Denise E Lindquist5 years ago in Families
A LONELY HEART
A LONELY HEART by SUE J BRAITHWAITE It was turning out to be a long and extremely cold winter. Christopher, Charlie and Maurice’s mum could only afford to put the heating on in one room at a time otherwise she would fall behind with other bills. The lads didn’t mind that much as they understood their predicament, and to be honest, their ability to adjust to varying temperatures was an easy and comfortable transition. Their birthdays were days apart, a year between each, Charlie being the oldest, Chris being the youngest. The three brothers were seriously close and spent a great deal of time together living in the countryside, they loved their rambles, in rain, sun or snow. As it happened it was snowing that afternoon. The heavy snowfall had settled at around three inches high over a course of two hours and showed no sign of letting up. They finished off watching the last season of, “Girls Gone Bad,” a fictional program about four best pals in their late teens that started out as sweet and innocent law abiders, until they met Jenny and her wild, partying and fearless circle of friends. The lads could identify with Jenny and her friends because they were the influencers of their peers in the village that they lived in as well as the other two villages close by. They’d arrange meet ups with others around their ages to go for drives, drink alcohol, take drugs and do whatever else took their fancy.
By Sue BRAITHWAITE5 years ago in Families
IN THE LAND OF ICE AND SNOW
Dedicated to Grandpa Earl, who made magic happen… THE WONDER YEARS Winters in Minnesota are cold. Although this is well known, it still seems to shock visitors who arrive in December or January, but to those who live there, it’s life. Hannah worked at the airport just before college, and as she would walk around outside with her parka unzipped, she’d noticed people dragging luggage staring at her as they clung to their coats, trying not to cry for fear their faces would freeze. Yes, come to Minnesota and you will quickly adapt or die.
By Pam Sievert-Russomanno5 years ago in Families
The Four Clairs: Part One
There weren't always dragons in the Valley. But Alaia Thomas wasn't much different... It's been ten whole weeks since I moved into Aunt Didi's and Uncle Ross' house. My 16-year-old cousin, D.C. and I were having one of our usual late-night therapy sessions.
By Lunarchild.xo5 years ago in Families
Find the One
I know life sucks sometimes; I know that you want to call it quits. Trust me I too have been there. I have been there more times than I can truly count. I never thought I would ever admit that. I know you might not want to admit that either, or maybe you do. I don’t know; but I hope what you are about to read will help you. I hope it helps you get better and feel better about yourself I hope it helps you know that you are not alone, and no matter how tough life gets on you, you don’t have to deal with it alone. I too at one time thought I was all alone and that I had to handle my problems on my own. I didn’t know I could text my friends and they’d be there to help, I thought they truly didn’t care about how I felt. I thought they were only using me to vent about their problems and I was there to listen every time; but one day, I was about to have a break down, and needed someone to talk to and I just didn’t know who to talk to, I needed advice, and I needed to find someone that wouldn’t judge me.
By Hidden secrets5 years ago in Families
The Unbreakable bond
It started out as a normal friend group, but soon turned in to something more. The bond felt like it would never be broken but little did we know it would all change. It went from a friend group to a family in a matter of days. The family started by one person “adopting” the younger members of the friend group. Just keep in mind that there was only a few of us that were between the ages of 13 and 14. The rest of us for either 11 or 12. There was one mom and three to four dads. In real life the mom was dating one of the dads and she never dated the others. Not long after the family was created I ended up “marrying” the mom as a joke in the friend group. The whole friend group know about the fake marriage and went along with it. The funny part of the marriage is that we actually got married on FaceTime. In my opinion the weirdest part about the marriage was that the mother I was actually the husband and I was the wife. So I ended up being the stepmother of all of the children, some of the kids didn’t like that so much. But in the end we were a big happy family. The mom ended up disowning a few of the kids because of some stuff that was happening. They were still kind of in the friend group but not really in the family. The family lasted for a few months but then slowly started to go downhill from there. between the end of May beginning of June there was a lot of break ups within the friend group which caused a few problems with the family because one of the break ups was actually part of the family (The mom and a dad). At first this was the only break up but then there was another break up with one of the kids and then the following break up with another child. After this happen we pretty much all split apart from each other because Summer was starting and we found out that the mom was moving 30 minutes away. If you can’t tell already the mom plays pretty important role in the friend group so when we found out she was moving it kind of tore us apart. She said she would be able to come down and visit us whenever she wanted but that quickly changed because she told us she wasn’t able to anymore. This is what really tore the whole family/friend group apart. Eventually it was only me, the mom and, one of the kids left in the family and pretty much the whole friend group. Just recently the family/friend group has extended. The friend group consists of a few more people than it did in the family now consists of me, the mom, her son, and my two daughters. The hard part about this is that only me her son and my two daughters are in one school district in the mom is in another school district. School starts soon and we’re not all going to be together which is sad but we know she moved so she could be in a safer environment. This story may be a bit confusing and trust me it is confusing but once you get to know us it would make a lot more sense.
By Brooke Frankford5 years ago in Families
For All in Tents and Porpoises
Sweet, he thought. It was a Saturday with all the time in the world and no phone calls or email to process or read through for at least one day. Martin was already in his backyard positioning the Adirondack chair so that it would not be too deep in the sunlight. A tall, cold and sweaty glass of Amstel Light was on the side table with extra bottle chilling in a small cooler by his feet, right next to his favourite summer reading (the New York Times Saturday Crossword Puzzle), a pot of yellow marigolds he managed to grow every year, and his loaded iPod Nano. Not a cloud was visible in the sky and he could not hear a single sound coming from his worst neighbour (seriously, what was the purpose of O’Leary and her stupid schnauzer? Better keep that mutt away from my annuals). It was a perfect day.
By Kendall Defoe 5 years ago in Families
Bring me my skates
Start writing... The skies were darker then usual during this time of the year. If it wasn’t for the War Benjamin Day would be on the stone streets of London snowball fighting with his friends. Instead he finds himself alone in a chariot going to an uncle’s Estate that he hasn’t seen since before he developed memories. In his hands was a letter written by his parents telling him how much they both love him and how he needs to be brave. He read the letter over a dozen times, analyzing ever sentence, pronouncing every word, and making sure he didn’t miss anything. By the time the chariot reached its long awaited destination, the creases of the paper were as soft as cotton.
By Martin Gomez5 years ago in Families
