My Cousin(?) Came to Visit

My cousin came to visit for the last few nights. Actually, she and her husband came to town to for him to have some tests run and she needed a place to crash so she crashed with me.

Anyway, I digress...

She came here to crash and we had some great conversation. We hadn't seen each other in about 3 years, so we had a lot to catch up on.

Anyway, one of the conversations we had was how our family adopts 'strays'. When we think about our family tree, we are amazed...there are some crazy twigs amoung us!

Actually, if the tree were to ever be pruned, she and I would be one of the first ones to hit the ground! Here's why!

We are cousins because our moms are sisters.

Easy, right?

Well, not so much...

Her mom is not actually her mom. Her birthmom got pregnant with her when she was a teen. Birthmom went to birthdad and explained that she was pg. Birthdad wanted her to have an abortion. Birthmom said no and had J. Birthmom then married stepdad. Birthmom and stepdad have a baby, S. Birthmom, having not had any teenage years then starts partying and not being a mom. Stepdad decided to get a divorce and fights tooth and nail for the kids...yup! You guessed it, BOTH kids, J and S! Stepdad marries my aunt and they get custody of both kids and eventually eventually adopt both of them.

My mom is not actually my mom either. You see, my parents divorced when I was 4. My father (which I later find out, isn't...but that's a different post) married my mom (actually a stepmom, but I hate that term!). They were married for 13 years before that ship sunk. She and I had (and have) such a great relationship that when they divorced, she stated to me, 'I am divorcing your dad, not you'.

So, if you can untangle the limbs on this tree, you will realize that J and I are really no more than really good friends that celebrated some holidays together when we were young. But, with that said, I did not hesitate to tell a friend, 'My cousin is coming to town.'

I love that our family adopts strays! Because if not, I would have never met J and my other fantastic cousins!