Family

[Some Badger]

Last year my nan on my mother's side died and what you fear happened. Almost straight away they took sides on what to do with stuff that had no monetry value just to spite each other, it was deeply upsetting for my mother and there wasn't much I could do beyond going and harrassing a bunch of OAPs. I really hope you don't have to suffer the same crap.

I'll probably be caught in the middle, but I feel like my mom and her siblings are gonna get together one last time to clean out the condo, manage and tie up the loose ends of granny's estate, then be on passive aggressive Christmas card terms for the remainder of their miserable, catty boomer lives. The shore tradition will probably live on through my cousins, if only because it's one of the few things a lot of us really have to look forward to as adulthood gets bleaker and bleaker.

 

[wtfNeedSignUp]

If you maintain contact with any member of your family after the age of 18, you're a manchild faggot. No excpetions

Good job at outing yourself as a faggot.

Anyways, as long as your family situation isn't tragic, maintain a connection to your family just to be a decent human being and instill in the next generation that they should do the same.

 

[shameful existence]

I'm very bad at keeping in touch with the older and more distant relatives. Nothing too tragic, I'm just too much of a coward to face and resolve some past events. But I'm very close with the youngest, children of my siblings in particular. It's freeing to engage with people lacking historical baggage who base their opinion of you only on your current interactions.

 

[Aztec Death Squad]

I don't, and its hard to say exactly why. I'm very envious of big, tight families
. . . . A lot of people just don't care and are too wrapped up in their lives to think of you.

I feel this. It's a hard lesson, but a good one to learn early. Gives you a realistic picture of the world and how people work. Having just a few people around who really care is better than being surrounded by people who don't.
That being said, I hold onto hope that one day I can make my own big happy family. Be the change and all.

 

[Mr. Donuts]

Family is all we have left in this world.

 

[Anonitolia]

do you guys still have contact with your extended family?

daily contact with my immediate family (brother sister parents), weekly distant contact with my grandparents (ie via calls, not physical interaction)
I don't plan on changing anything save for maybe cutting out my sister. She makes my life hell sometimes. Ruined what could've been one of the best days of my life, throws infantile tantrums at chewing/drinking noises and screams like a banshee when we laugh at anything or sing/hum. She's almost an adult and it's ridiculous, but she doesn't seem to be changing nor does she seem to want to so I don't plan on talking to her much as soon as possible.
Absolutely going to keep contact with the rest though, I'm very close with my family and hope my kids will be too.
Don't really have extended family outside of what I described- what's it like? From the comments i'm reading here it sounds horrible, but I am intrigued regardless.

is it worth even trying?

As others have said, it's completely on a case-by-case basis. Is your family on good terms with each other and with you? Does it treat you well? Are you within a close enough distance to warrant physical meetups to change that if possible?
Family is an incredibly valuable asset and a perfect start for a healthy support network, but if your blood isn't willing to treat you like a decent human being or act like one themselves for no clear reason, I don't think it's a good idea to try and keep contact.
Then again, this is the opinion of one autist on a forum meant to gossip about fat retards. Please don't let people like me weigh in on your personal life lol

 

[Lorne Armstrong]

I basically have no relationship whatsoever with most of my extended family. The only family members I have anything to do with are my Mawm and my alcoholic older brother. I’ve got 3 other brothers and a sister, plus 6 half-siblings, aunts and uncles, cousins, nephews and, of course, nieces that I think the world of. One by one, they cut off contact with me.

I could pursue a relationship with some or all of them, but I choose not to because of how they treated me in the past. I idolized my siblings when I was growing up, and once we were all grown up and I was making good money in the Septic business my siblings took advantage of me and really messed my head reet up. That caused me to spin completely out of control, leave the state to try and start over, and fall victim to a dishonest media organization and a “perverted justice” system. I nevah even menta dewit!

Anyway, sometimes I miss my family members, but then I remember all the times I tried to buy their love with money. I remember giving them $700 worth of work on their houses or $500 for heating oil or for Christmas presents for their kids. I told all of them that if they wanted to repay me, all they’d have to do is bring me a pawt of their homemade Mac&Cheese, or meetbawls, or deviled aigs. That’s awl ANY of them had to do to show their appreciation for AWL I did for them and you know what? I never saw the meetbawls, never saw the deviled aigs, and I never saw the macaroni and cheese.

Fuck my family, except Mawm, of course.