For many, family is our main source of joy and meaning in life--- as well as pain. If we do not have a family of blood or legal relatives, we often create one. Yet sharing DNA or a marriage license is neither a necessary nor sufficient criteria by which we decide who is family to us. Blood relatives can be disowned and spouses divorced.
With terms like step, blended, adopted, bi-nuclear, same sex couples, life partners, live-in, sperm donors, and surrogates, family ties have expanded to include diverse human groups. Ideal family bonds are created by sharing emotions of love and loyalty. Often only DNA holds families together.
We live together, marry, divorce, re-marry, raise children, assume eldercare, and thrive when family conditions are low conflict, supportive, respectful, and productive. But we also have emotional cut-offs, cheat on our partners, suffer abuse, grow up in dysfunctional families, and relatives die.
We are driven to share our experiences . Did we do it right? Can we improve? Can I help you? We wrestle over personal boundaries with meddling and controlling behaviors. Our daily lives create a wide universe of readers and bloggers with thoughts, opinions, beliefs, questions, and answers about family.
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Blurbs about family
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