(no subject)
Sep. 26th, 2003 11:30 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
violachicI guess the regular Friday Five is on vacation, so ![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-userinfo.gif)
divalibby came up with a Friday Five of her own. And here are my answers.
1: Who do you refer to when you say the words "my family"?
Mostly my immediate biological family- parents and siblings. I don't have any grandparents left, and any aunts/uncles/cousins live so far away I rarely see them. Then, of course, there is the whole Vocare family tree (if you're feeling adventurous, details can be found here, here, here, and here) (bush? knot? tangle? catastrophe?) that inevitably gets brought up at any large gathering of people. Hi mom! *waves atwildrose80
2: Has divorce/remarriage or adoption affected who the government considers your family? Do you consider these non-blood relatives family? Quite a bit. I am the only one in my immediate family who has not been divorced, although there is only one ex-in-law I don't see anymore, which is good for everyone involved including him, because someone would inevitably have to kill him because he is an asshole.... *ahem* anyway... I don't necessarily consider the others "family", but we're definitely still on very good terms with them. I guess my brother's ex-wife might still be considered family. I have come to at least like my oldest sister's "new" husband, although it took a good eleven years. I know that when my other sister- the one I'm really close to- decides to remarry he'll be easy to accept as family, mostly because if she marries the person she's with right now, he basically already is family and has been even since before they started dating. I also have a brother that had been given up for adoption when he was born, who we have come in contact with over the last few years. No matter how close I do or don't ever get with him, I most certainly consider he and his wife family. My parents have been divorced for four and a half years now, but I see it as highly unlikely either of them will remarry.
3: Do you get along with your family now? Has this always been the case? I've never really NOT gotten along with my family, although my mother and I can have some very monumental fights. I'm very close friends with my family, which I think some people see as odd. My sister and I, even though we have gotten into some very rare doozies of fights, have mostly been best friends our whole lives. Even if we're upset or frustrated with each other, we always think of each other as the one in the world we're closest too. I actually think I'm really lucky with my family, for as many points as I don't see eye to eye with them sometimes. We're fucked up, but at least we know it.
4: Is religion a part of your family's life? Has this created bonds or tension between family members? It is a huge part, at least with my mom and my sister. My dad and my older siblings- one brother and one sister- at least in my lifetime have never been particularly religious (although I have heard rumors of my dad being Religious Ed director at his local U/U church during his first marriage). But my sister and I inherited a lot of curiosity about religion and theological studies from my mother, who attended seminary in the times before they ordained women in the Lutheran church and apparently holds a couple master's degrees in theology. It definitely has created bonds among the three of us, but it also has caused tension at times, when my sister or I want to go explore other aspects of religion at a time my mother is sensitive about being able to have all of us worship in one place.
5: If you could choose your own family, would you choose a different family? Why? Hell no. My biological family is far too entertaining to get rid of, and my chosen family... well, yeah, entertaining, but I chose them for reasons. I'll most likely continue to add to my chosen family the rest of my life, and someday if I'm lucky, I'll actually get around to being married and possibly having children, whether biologically or via adoption. While sometimes I have fantasies of throttling my mother, I really enjoy my family and couldn't imagine having been raised in any other environment. For good or bad, they- biological and chosen alike- have helped make me who I am- fucked up as hell, but happier for it.
divalibby came up with a Friday Five of her own. And here are my answers.1: Who do you refer to when you say the words "my family"?
Mostly my immediate biological family- parents and siblings. I don't have any grandparents left, and any aunts/uncles/cousins live so far away I rarely see them. Then, of course, there is the whole Vocare family tree (if you're feeling adventurous, details can be found here, here, here, and here) (bush? knot? tangle? catastrophe?) that inevitably gets brought up at any large gathering of people. Hi mom! *waves at
wildrose802: Has divorce/remarriage or adoption affected who the government considers your family? Do you consider these non-blood relatives family? Quite a bit. I am the only one in my immediate family who has not been divorced, although there is only one ex-in-law I don't see anymore, which is good for everyone involved including him, because someone would inevitably have to kill him because he is an asshole.... *ahem* anyway... I don't necessarily consider the others "family", but we're definitely still on very good terms with them. I guess my brother's ex-wife might still be considered family. I have come to at least like my oldest sister's "new" husband, although it took a good eleven years. I know that when my other sister- the one I'm really close to- decides to remarry he'll be easy to accept as family, mostly because if she marries the person she's with right now, he basically already is family and has been even since before they started dating. I also have a brother that had been given up for adoption when he was born, who we have come in contact with over the last few years. No matter how close I do or don't ever get with him, I most certainly consider he and his wife family. My parents have been divorced for four and a half years now, but I see it as highly unlikely either of them will remarry.
3: Do you get along with your family now? Has this always been the case? I've never really NOT gotten along with my family, although my mother and I can have some very monumental fights. I'm very close friends with my family, which I think some people see as odd. My sister and I, even though we have gotten into some very rare doozies of fights, have mostly been best friends our whole lives. Even if we're upset or frustrated with each other, we always think of each other as the one in the world we're closest too. I actually think I'm really lucky with my family, for as many points as I don't see eye to eye with them sometimes. We're fucked up, but at least we know it.
4: Is religion a part of your family's life? Has this created bonds or tension between family members? It is a huge part, at least with my mom and my sister. My dad and my older siblings- one brother and one sister- at least in my lifetime have never been particularly religious (although I have heard rumors of my dad being Religious Ed director at his local U/U church during his first marriage). But my sister and I inherited a lot of curiosity about religion and theological studies from my mother, who attended seminary in the times before they ordained women in the Lutheran church and apparently holds a couple master's degrees in theology. It definitely has created bonds among the three of us, but it also has caused tension at times, when my sister or I want to go explore other aspects of religion at a time my mother is sensitive about being able to have all of us worship in one place.
5: If you could choose your own family, would you choose a different family? Why? Hell no. My biological family is far too entertaining to get rid of, and my chosen family... well, yeah, entertaining, but I chose them for reasons. I'll most likely continue to add to my chosen family the rest of my life, and someday if I'm lucky, I'll actually get around to being married and possibly having children, whether biologically or via adoption. While sometimes I have fantasies of throttling my mother, I really enjoy my family and couldn't imagine having been raised in any other environment. For good or bad, they- biological and chosen alike- have helped make me who I am- fucked up as hell, but happier for it.
![[identity profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/openid.png){kind=small}
no subject
Date: 2003-09-27 02:51 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2003-09-27 07:07 am (UTC)