Relations

Speaking of family...

We got a wedding invitation a few weeks ago. Tom looked over my shoulder as I opened the envelope and, not recognizing the name of either the bride or the groom, asked me who these people were.

I attempted to explain that the bride is the sister of one of my cousins.

"So she's your cousin," Tom guessed.

"Well, no," I explained. "Her older brother is my cousin. His dad is my dad's nephew. The bride is actually my cousin Holly's cousin."

Tom shook his head to show that he really didn't want me to explain further and walked away.

See, like I said, we're from a small town, and there are lots of big families around here.

Heck, Tom himself is the eleventh of thirteen children. So his confusion, while understandable, shouldn't have gotten the best of him.

My mom is the fifth of twelve children. She and her siblings tended to have kids pretty young. My mom was only nineteen when I was born. (This WAS back in the seventies, not that that means anything, actually.)

Anyway, a friend of hers, let's call her Cherry, had a son who is about six months younger than I am. She didn't marry her son's father. In fact, this man, my first cousin once removed, was sort of an ass and never acknowledged his son. Yeah, nice family I come from.

A few years later, Cherry met and married a man who is cousin to one of my mom's sister's husbands. They had a daughter who is close in age to my brother Jason.

This is the woman who is getting married in a few months.

So...she's sort of family. In a round about way.

I laughed when Tom again shook his head. Yes, I went on to explain it all to him even though he didn't want to know. What can I say? I'm an oversharer in all areas of my life, whether people want to know what I'm sharing or not.

I did tell him he doesn't have to go to the wedding. Weird family ties or not, I'm a cool wife like that.