Family affair
Other people's families have always intrigued me, but I'm constantly surprised at people's interest in my own. After my first year of university, for example, one of the first questions I was asked by a friend from home was "how's your family?". I'm not sure why I remember this particular instance, but it took me by surprise because it was a question to which I had no 'stock answer' for a reply.
Unlike most people I know (in fact, nearly everyone I know), my family is very small. I have one brother, two parents and two grandparents. My mum's brother lives nearby, but my dad's sister lives on the other side of the country: I rarely see my younger cousins and certainly didn't 'grow up' with them around. And that's it. If we were to host a family gathering, you'd only need set the table for eight. I simply can't imagine what life is like in larger, close-knit families.
We also tend to keep ourselves to ourselves. My parents have a small circle of friends and aren't big socialites. The only time we really all get together as a family is for the holidays or a birthday. I try to keep my family out of conversations – not for one second because I'm in any way ashamed or embarrassed – but because I've taken pains to protect my family from the insults and criticisms levelled at me. It's not that I don't want people to ask about them, nor that I don't want to talk about them – it's just that I never really thought about them as a legitimate topic of conversation.
Unlike most people I know (in fact, nearly everyone I know), my family is very small. I have one brother, two parents and two grandparents. My mum's brother lives nearby, but my dad's sister lives on the other side of the country: I rarely see my younger cousins and certainly didn't 'grow up' with them around. And that's it. If we were to host a family gathering, you'd only need set the table for eight. I simply can't imagine what life is like in larger, close-knit families.
We also tend to keep ourselves to ourselves. My parents have a small circle of friends and aren't big socialites. The only time we really all get together as a family is for the holidays or a birthday. I try to keep my family out of conversations – not for one second because I'm in any way ashamed or embarrassed – but because I've taken pains to protect my family from the insults and criticisms levelled at me. It's not that I don't want people to ask about them, nor that I don't want to talk about them – it's just that I never really thought about them as a legitimate topic of conversation.
