K is for Kinfolk

This is not my family. We're probably about this cute though.

F was already taken, but I wanted to spend at least one post talking about my family. Family is incredibly important to me, and I have the best one in the world (I know a lot of you think you do, but, sorry, you're wrong. It's mine. ^_^).

My family's not very big. I don't have any first cousins. I spent a lot of time complaining about this as a kid (okay, I still do), but it also worked out well for me, since my brother and I are the only grandchildren on both sides. In other words, we're spoiled. But we know it, so that makes it alright.

I think not having too many people made us closer to the ones we have though. Instead of having a kids' table and an adults' table at holidays, we all sat together. My brother and I were treated like adults. We were included in the conversations, and, while things were explained to us, they were never dumbed down. We were expected to ask questions when we didn't understand things.

Not having cousins also meant my brother and I were pretty close (still are, in fact). He's only a few years younger than I am, and when my friends were complaining about their siblings, I was hanging out with mine. I remember spending an entire summer with my brother and his best friend, riding our bikes to a convenience store and buying candy and soda, then over to the elementary school where we hung out on the stairs by the fire exit. All summer.

I think I'm one of the lucky ones. I don't have any scarring memories from my childhood (unless you count the fact that I was never allowed to climb out my window and sit on the roof like I so desperately wanted. Or the six years of braces). I'm close to my parents. We ate dinner around the table with the TV off at least 4-5 times a week, and, though we eat now in front of Jeopardy!, we still eat together most nights. We talked--not just about our days and our lives, but about politics and religion and all the serious subjects in the world. And about The Simpsons and old movies and all the fun subjects too.

And we love each other and support each other so much that I'm always surprised when I hear about families who don't. I wouldn't be half the person I am without them. I certainly wouldn't be half the writer I am. Or maybe any of the writer, since my parents were the first ones to tell me I was any good at it and the first ones to encourage me to keep at it. And they're still the ones who are front and center, cheering the loudest for me to keep going until I achieve all my dreams.