It's All Relative

I have a very extended family.

Soon after we got married my husband gave up trying to figure out all the relationships and coined the term, "step-neighbors-in-law" to describe them.

Besides my mother, step-father, brother, uncles, aunts, and cousins, my family included many others, and still does. My cousins' aunt, uncle, and grandmother were always part of the family gatherings and now I consider my cousins' cousin's son and granddaughter part of my family.

One of my second cousins' cousins lives nearby so he's certainly a relative and going to their family gatherings has made them step-neighbors-in-law, too.

We raised three foster kids in addition to our birth daughter and one of them is a father, so I now have foster grandkids as well as the traditional kind.

Although all my ancestors were of European descent and I'm a WASP, my very extended family includes people who are Jewish, African American, Gay, and Latino. Political beliefs vary from extremely liberal to extremely conservative and everything in between.

But none of those differences matter to me when we see each other because they're all part of my family and I love them all.

What kind of family do you have?