Family members not including spouse

[Airehead]

Not including your spouse are their family members that you are particularly close to?  If so, who?  Seems like some families are closer and others may be related but dont have relationships.

[shootingstar]

Several sisters. I'm not as close to my brother but closer after we all lost a sister.  We're all tighter than we probably credit ourselves.  We have supported each other in various ways

It's harder to feel closer to mother because of her personality, language barriers. I do envy parental-child relationships where one can talk about anything.  We often end up getting a lecture or end up with "advice". That's not going to change.

 

[Longjohn ★]

My family members that live close are the easiest ones to be close with. We love our time with all of them but we are really close with our youngest and his family. They live a half hour away.

[sheep_herder ★]

No for both of us, but we each have a sister. I will visit a cousin every once in a while, when traveling in Houston.

[2Far ★]

No for both of us.

[Parsnip Totin Jack ★]

No for both of us. I had four sisters and one brother. One sister passed away about ten years ago. One sister drank herself into the emergency room. She is now in assisted living and probably will be for life. The other two sisters live locally but we are not close. They call when they need something which is not often and I’m fine with that. My brother lives in NC on the coast and we talk maybe twice a year. You all know the stories of my wife’s family. LAJ, JtM, and Daddy Warbucks. My wife talks with her sister, Janet-the-Martyr every month or so. Manages Lazyass Joe’s finances, pays rent, etc.

[donkpow]

Not really.

[Kzoo]

No.  My sibs were never close.  We all went different directions after HS and never were really that tight.  WoKzoo's family was much closer and I'm closer to them.  Most are in the immediate area and got together regularly with the in-laws.  Since the in-laws died we have not see as much of them.

[groupw]

Close to both my mom and my youngest brother. My middle brother I love, but he is a bit of a drama queen. We talk several times each year, but it is exhausting. Very close to our kids, each in their own way. We do the family stuff with the in-laws, but just don't feel the closeness with that side. WoW doesn't either...

There are 3 cousins, all sisters I feel very close to. 

[jsharr ★]

No one.  I am beginning to wonder how I lost my sense of empathy or whatever makes you have friends.  I fear I will end up a lonely bitter old man.  

[Guest]

1 minute ago, jsharr said:

No one.  I am beginning to wonder how I lost my sense of empathy or whatever makes you have friends.  I fear I will end up a lonely bitter old man.  

End up?🙂

[Guest]

My younger sister and i have always been pretty close, though the miles have affected that. My Dad and i have become really close over the last 15 years or so, which is a 180 degrees different than before. Although there is the mutual father/son respect we have also become good friends.

[jsharr ★]

6 minutes ago, Zackny said:

End up?🙂

Yes.  Seriously.  I want to change this but not sure how.  I think it is a mental issue I should see someone about.

[Razors Edge ★]

2 hours ago, Airehead said:

Not including your spouse are their family members that you are particularly close to?  If so, who?  Seems like some families are closer and others may be related but dont have relationships.

I'm one of nine kids, and there is a pecking order for sure.  It seems particularly around exposure time growing up, so the more time (ie my oldest siblings) together, the tighter the bond.  That's also true for my extended family - my older cousins are the ones I most interacted with as a kid into adulthood, so those bonds are strong - almost equal to siblings.  Aunts, uncles, nieces, and nephews are all pretty darn close.  As a family, we all generally feel stronger and better when together - in pairs up to the full clan.

[Tizeye]

My 4y/o grandson now has his own Skype account so I can read him bedtime stories. (Actually, that was a defensive move on my daughter's account. Re-purposed an old tablet as he could figure out how to activate Skype on hers, and had access to her contacts to randomly Skype.)

[ChrisL]

1 minute ago, Razors Edge said:

I'm one of nine kids, and there is a pecking order for sure.  It seems particularly around exposure time growing up, so the more time (ie my oldest siblings) together, the tighter the bond.  That's also true for my extended family - my older cousins are the ones I most interacted with as a kid into adulthood, so those bonds are strong - almost equal to siblings.  Aunts, uncles, nieces, and nephews are all pretty darn close.  As a family, we all generally feel stronger and better when together - in pairs up to the full clan.

Wow lots of similarities!

I’m the youngest of nine and the family pretty much paired up in 3’s. The three youngest are all pretty close. I talk to my brother weekly, sister monthly. Other siblings annually, some not even that.  I was the closest of the siblings to my oldest brother before he passed.

I have 2 cousins that I grew up with. We are actually more like brothers as we share the same passions for fishing & cycling.  With families, jobs & now Covid we haven’t been able to get together as much but we text about monthly. I’m also really close to their parents, my moms baby brother & aunt who was like a second mom to me.

My kids & their SO’s are probably the tightest family group.  We see each other several times a week, go on family adventures & such.  Weird that they spend so much time with us but I ain’t complaining. But I sure as hell didn’t hang out with my mom like they do with us. Just last night we had an unplanned family dinner & everyone was over.

My wife is close with her older brother and talks more with her younger brother lately.  No drama or anything, they have just been on separate coasts for 30 years. She has 2 cousins, one passed earlier this year and she sees the other maybe once a year as they are in Portland so an easy flight up.

[Scrapr ★]

One surviving brother. Not close at all. They snowbird in Az. I was down there in February for a few days hoping we could share a bit. Didn't really happen. Our extended family had lunch after a funeral last year. That was really a lot of fun with all the cousins. The cousins are now the "old folks" We should try to carry on some traditions

why do you ask @Airehead?

[Bikeguy]

28 minutes ago, jsharr said:

No one.  I am beginning to wonder how I lost my sense of empathy or whatever makes you have friends.  I fear I will end up a lonely bitter old man.

I think it just slowly happens...   Ever watch the movie Grand Torino?

3 hours ago, Airehead said:

are their family members that you are particularly close to?

Not to close.   We just have such different lives...   My 2 sisters, are much closer.  They also live about 1/2 a mile away from each other and also 1/2 from our parents home too.  

[Forum Administrator]

I am super close with my parents.  I talk to them at least 2-3 times a week.  I used to be really close with my brother, but over the last five or so years, he completely changed.  He is almost constantly at some level of drunkenness. He has turned into a flaming bigot. The last time I saw him, he picked a fight with my 11-year-old daughter about health care where he ended up screaming in her face about taxes. 

[Prophet Zacharia]

My sons and my sister. My wife is close with her sisters. We see her dad (precovid) regularly, and talk with my mother on the phone.

[Ralphie ★]

All of my siblings and I are very close with our mother. I exchange emails with her daily, which is good because she is all alone, with three of us at about 350 miles away and my sister 1500 miles away.  My siblings keep in touch with each other casually and see each other once or twice a year. 
Of course we are very close with the daughters who live within 100 miles of us. 
Also fairly close with my wife’s family who are all in the area, so we saw them a lot before Covid.  

[MickinMD ★]

I know of one case where two people I grew up with got married, a pretty girl and a handsome guy who was/is an asshole -my sister dislikes few people but she HATES him.  After about 7 years of marriage they got divorced and she confided to me that she'd really miss the fact his family was so close and loving because her family was so distant.

I'm fortunate that my family, even extended family is very close. When distant extended family members are in financial trouble, it's expected that those who can help will help. That occurred in the 60's when my mother and disabled father were struggling. That also occurred when a PA cousin couldn't afford a major dental procedure and was living in pain for half a year. When I found out, I sent her the money to pay for it. It's what families should do.

I'm very close to my sister and brother and my sister-in-law's family is very-close knit and the two families are close together and in frequent touch with each other.  There are also over a dozen 1st and 2nd cousins, mostly living out of state, that I'm in frequent email or Facebook contact, as well as four that I speak to at least once a month on the phone.  One first cousin's son, same last name as me, became a high school physics teacher just before I retired as one, and we've been fairly close and in frequent contact. He wants me to help him start a chess team at his high school when things get back to normal.

[Kirby]

I am close with both my sisters.  When my parents were alive, they were the tie that held things together.  I'd usually visit once a week and my wild sister would often join.  My not wild sister lived closer and would see them often (they baby sat for the grandkids), but then she started joining us as well for the visit. After my Mom passed, we'd still get together to clean out the apartment (followed by lunch) .  Covid has kept us apart physically, but we still text frequently and will visit again once it's safe.

My Mom had a number of siblings and we're friendly with one set of cousins.  We tend to see them more for family events like weddings/funerals etc.  since they live a bit farther away.  But they're the only cousins we ever really see.

[Airehead]

7 hours ago, Scrapr said:

why do you ask @Airehead?

I was thinking about how my brothers communicate. They are all geographically close to one another but not all emotionally close. I live 7 hours away from all of them. My husband is an only child so not so much family tie there. 

[shootingstar]

1 hour ago, Airehead said:

I was thinking about how my brothers communicate. They are all geographically close to one another but not all emotionally close. I live 7 hours away from all of them. My husband is an only child so not so much family tie there. 

So are you part of the sibling glue?  Maybe guys in certain families are different.  Dearie and his brother are close in certain topics, updating one another about their families, but not close in other areas.  His brother has lived thousands of km. away in the U.S. in past 25 years.

One of my sisters seems to naturally to try to get us together for functions or there's cross-talking/networking.  It's all casual. She likes doing it.  She is one of he middle sisters.

[BuffJim]

Super close to my daughter. Very close to my mother, and just a little less to my father. Close to all 4 of my brothers. Facebook friends with a few cousins on my mom’s side. No contact with my 5 cousins on my Dad’s side. 

[shootingstar]

11 hours ago, shootingstar said:

Several sisters. I'm not as close to my brother but closer after we all lost a sister.  We're all tighter than we probably credit ourselves.  We have supported each other in various ways

It's harder to feel closer to mother because of her personality, language barriers. I do envy parental-child relationships where one can talk about anything.  We often end up getting a lecture or end up with "advice". That's not going to change.

I have many cousins....lst and 2nd cousins. With their spouses and kids it's probably over 50 people in Ontario. Get along ok with some cousins closer to my age but only see them at weddings, funerals.  It's not a closeness that we arrange to meet up, whenever i'm in Ontario other times. For some cousins, is it language barrier and cultural differences in upbringing..ie. some were adult immigrants in CAnada. 

[BR46]

I have a brother that I see 3 or 4 times a year and he lives 5 miles from my house. I about where he lives. He was not happy when he found out that I retired and really hasn't talked to me since. 

A sister that we talk on the phone about mom's health problems but see each other a few times a year. She lives 9 miles from me. 

I've always felt like the odd ball of the race family the piece of the puzzle that fit quite right. They only call me when someone needs to be fixed. 

[shootingstar]

22 minutes ago, BR46 said:

I have a brother that I see 3 or 4 times a year and he lives 5 miles from my house. I about where he lives. He was not happy when he found out that I retired and really hasn't talked to me since. 

A sister that we talk on the phone about mom's health problems but see each other a few times a year. She lives 9 miles from me. 

I've always felt like the odd ball of the race family the piece of the puzzle that fit quite right. They only call me when someone needs to be fixed. 

Sorry to hear that your brother is not happy for you when you retired.  I guess he wishes to retire too?

[petitepedal ★]

Just my sister..we are not close her mental health and chemical dependency issues didnt do much for our relationship. I call her..she live about 20 minutes away..I see her once or twice a year..was close to a cousin and his wife..but that changed at about 30..I think we exchange Christmas cards.  My cousin's wife accused me of going after my aunt's money..ha she had none. Have met up with an older cousin ..connected about a year ago..pretty cassual..but we have had dinner together a couple of times.

[BR46]

13 minutes ago, shootingstar said:

Sorry to hear that your brother is not happy for you when you retired.  I guess he wishes to retire too?

He drank and gambled all of his money. He's told me that he will never be able to afford to retire. 

I always said that the only thing that we have incomming  is that we have the same mother. I've been racing motorcycles for 40 years and he has never seen us race. I've even offered him free tickets to the races. If it's not football, baseball or drinking beer he not interested. My sister would probably go but her husband thinks motorcycle racing is stupid. He told me that. 

[Allen ★]

I was very close with my parents. After college I bought a lot and house that abuts Springwood because from my point of view it was a 5 acre lot with a hundred acre backyard. So I kinda lived with them for the entirety of my life. 
I’m closer to my sister than I am with my brother, although my sister lives a county over and he lives on the estate in the old farmhouse. My brother has mental issues though, so he can be hard to relate too. I pay his power bill and gave him his last car.  He and my sister are effectively estranged. He’s never held a job for more than a few months and has not worked at all in years. Lived off of my parents and now me. 
I talk to both of my siblings daily. Ginger and I have a conversation. I check on my brother to make sure he is still alive and to remind him to go eat. 

[Digital_photog ★]

We talk to our 2 daughters nearly every day.  The younger one lives 6 miles away and the grandchildren come over most days to work with their 4H sheep.  The older one lives in Carmel but calls often.  I am the oldest of 7. Am closest with my youngest brother who is 18 years younger than me.  Several of the others I will see once or twice a year.  My wife is an only child so we don't have much family contact on that side.

[BR46]

My son and I are close. We text and call each other all most every day. 

[smudge ★]

My daughters and I are very close even though we live six hours apart. We group text daily, call once in a while, and travel for visits a few times per year.

My mom and middle sister live together about a mile from me. We see each other once a month or so. I honestly only visit because I feel obligated to visit my mom.

My sisters are nice enough and all, but their thought processes are so very different from mine that it's hard to hold my tongue and be sociable. It's probably me. Meh....