Hello, again.

Oh, look: It's tomorrow already! Yippee for CFIDS insomnia; helping NTE stick to her NaBloMo goals for 25 days running!

Anyways...

I was wandering around other sites today, and it occurred to me that I like it when there is an easy way to identify who the heck the blogger is talking about. I get the DHs or things like that, but the cutesy nicknames sometimes throw me for a loop. Unless there's a little notation, say, in the sidebar, explaining things for me.

Which made me think: "Why don't you have one of those, NTE?"

Because... I haven't gotten around to it yet.

But, lookie here: I've got a little time on my hands right now. Perhaps I will give you the basics.

Before I start, let me just say this: all my life, other people have had a hard time understanding my peculiarly twisting branch of the family tree. And I'm talking people who've known me for years, and who have actually met my family. "Which one is that again?" is not an uncommon question. However, I don't think it's confusing at all. There's some steps- and halfs-, a couple of divorces and second marriages (and second divorces). It sounds pretty normal, if you ask me. This is all leading up to this ---> I don't find it confusing, and therefore, might not explain it as well as you need it to be explained. If you've got a question, just holler, mmkay?


So. We start with my parents, who got married very young.

And, by very young, I mean 15. Seriously. My mother was pregnant with Oldest/Only Brother at the time, just in case you were wondering.

1976 - Parents marry, O/O Brother is born.

I come along next, halfway thru 1979, shortly after my mother's 18th birthday. My father and Mum decide they can no longer be married (which, all agree, is probably the very best decision ever), and divorce before my first birthday.

Somewhere in the 80-81 period, Mum meets Dad, who is divorced himself. He also has one daughter, Oldest Sister, who was also born in 1976. Oldest Sister, for the most part, lives with her mother (who really has no role in this whole thing, besides providing lodgings, as far as we are concerned), but that's right down the street, so we're together a lot.

Quick recap: Mum, Dad, O/O Brother, Oldest Sister/SisterS (both 3 years older than me), & Me


Moving along, we get to 83, when SisterJ makes her first appearance, Mum & Dad's first biological kid together, and (technically), my half-sister. But I don't like those halfs and steps; they're all my sisters. I'm just putting it here so you can see how it's working.

3 years later, SisterM comes along, also Mum & Dad's kid.

And two years after that, in 1988, from out of nowhere, my father has a little girl with his 2nd wife, and now there's Youngest Sister/SisterK.

Youngest Sister's parents split up almost immediately, and she & our father move back in with his parents, right down the road.

So, now we're all in one city: SisterS and her mom up one street, Youngest Sister and our father down another. And in our house, O/O brother, Me, SisterJ, SisterM, (all three of us in one room while O/O brother had his own... which I really should get over already, but that's a bit OT), Mum & Dad. One Grandmother (Mum's Mum, Nana), upstairs; the other, my father's mother, Grandmother, with Youngest Sister and our father.

This is just my immediate family, people. My Mum was one of 4; my father one of 9. You better believe there's a bevy of uncles and aunts and cousins unaccounted for here.

Besides, then it gets better: Fast forward a bit, and we're in 1996.

Oldest Sister/SisterS gets pregnant at 20, decides to move in with us. Now there's Oldest Nephew and SisterS in our house too. They don't stay here too long, eventually, they go back up with her mother.

Then in 2000, Youngest Nephew makes his debut: my O/O Brother & Soon-To-Be-Sister-In-Law have their little boy. A couple of years pass, and instead of planning O/OB & STBSIL's wedding, we're suddenly planning for our latest addition, Youngest/Only Niece. She is born in May of 2006, to much joy and celebration.

And that's us. It seems clear enough to me, but you don't have to worry about it: there won't be a pop quiz or anything.

Although I'd love to know how I'm going to squish this into a sidebar...