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| My stepfather |
Both of my parents have passed away, my mother 25 years ago this coming January and my father this past May. So the only living parents I have now are my stepparents.
When I scheduled the trip for the reunion, I was also intending to visit my father and stepmother. After my father's death, however, my stepmother has been moved to Texas, where she now lives with her son and daughter-in-law, because she really couldn't live on her own anymore. So I didn't get to see her, unfortunately.
My stepmother's son, of course, is my stepbrother. He has two sisters, who are my stepsisters.
My stepfather has two sons from his first marriage, so I have two more stepbrothers. (I did get to see both of them on my trip.)
I have a full brother and full sister from my parents' marriage.
I also have a half-sister, about whom I have written several times, from my father's first marriage.
I guess I had a stepgrandmother growing up, because my grandfather was on his third wife before I was even born.
I even have a living stepgrandmother, because my stepfather's mother is still alive and kicking (in fact, she turns 94 this December!).
And as if that weren't enough to keep track of, my brother used to ask people this question, just to see their reactions:
"When is my sister's sister not my sister?"
And that happens when your half-sister's mother remarries and has a daughter with her second husband. So my half-sister's half-sister is not biologically related to me and therefore not my sister.
(They could have used a variation of that line on NCIS: When is my brother's brother not my brother? Ziva's half-brother, Ari, had a half-brother, Sergei, from his mother's second marriage. Sergei was not related by blood to Ziva at all. And so we have art imitating life.)
I guess that's why I had to become a genealogist — just so someone in the family could keep track of all this.
Wow, you do have a complicated family. Glad you know how to keep track!
ReplyDelete"Don't do this at home. I'm a professional." :)
DeleteIt seems like your family took the expression "the more, the merrier" to heart! Lol! My husband jokes that he was an only child with sisters & a brother. His father had been widowed/had a daughter. His mother had been divorced/had a son and daughter. They met, and then had him! Closest one in age was already 9 yrs. older.
ReplyDeleteI think that was my mother's motto! But my father's family was just as complicated. He had seven half-siblings and no full siblings; the closest in age was seven years old, the furthest was 21 years older.
DeleteI've always been the only one who could keep track of my convoluted family (I had 4 complete pairs of grandparents/step-grandparents), but I think you win the prize!
ReplyDeleteThanks (I think)! When my first grandson was born, he had nine grandparents, so you really are pretty close to my situation!
DeleteYou truly do have an extended family! There are a lot of "steps" in your family tree.
ReplyDeleteOne step at a time? :)
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