Family
Family is one of the earliest and strongest bonds, related by blood, well, it used to be till betrayals, jealousy, and even distance start setting us apart, notwithstanding, there are still lots of families that withhold the love, support, and togetherness expected of a family.
Family also extends to a larger one, consisting of our grandparents, uncles, and aunties etc. Growing up, I was more familiar with my maternal family, as my mum's siblings basically lived with us till they had their own families, both aunties and uncles except for a few. As for my dad's family, I only knew them by their names until I was much into my adulthood and required their presence in some situations, like when my school requested my certificate of origin, I had to travel down to my hometown and as expected met some of them.
That didn't really change my relationship with them as they are still distant, and I'm also not the kind of person who would force a relationship with anybody, I don't hate them, why would I, when I don't really even know them.
The relationship with my mum's side of family, was mostly close during my childhood, they basically gave me my home training, I had the strict aunties that I disliked so much then because of how strict they were, and also had the cool ones I adored that would pamper me and also shower me with gifts. As an adult, I don't hate any of them and only realized that the strict ones shaped me to become a responsible adult, while the cool ones made me understand that life isn't supposed to be hard, as it is important to create happy memories now that we can relish and smile tomorrow.
Today, we are not so close anymore, due to distance and only visit once in a while, maybe during festive seasons, we still call or chat every once in a while though, and yeah, I appreciate the memories they gave me while growing up, the good, bad, and maybe not the ugly ones hehe.
The world today isn't like it was then, so I'm not sure I would even want my children to have the kind of relationship I had had with my aunties and uncles, better for them, I'm more close with my siblings, though they don't live with me, just like my mum's siblings did with her, yet they still have theat close relationship with them, and even often visit them, just as often as their children visit us, unlike me, they have closer bonds with their cousins more than I did with mine. I wish it continues this way, having these healthy close bonds. Although sadly, they don't have the same bond with their dad's family, just like it was with mine, for similar reasons, and I can only hope it gets better.
As for knowing the ones they are yet to see physically, thankfully, the internet has made it easier, they could easily search them online, we don't want a situation whereby cousins fall in love with each other in the future, that would be so disastrous.
Image is mine
