A Quirk About Family

I have a weird quirk about me with calling someone your sister, cousin, dad, brother...whatever, basically, relative if they're really not one. For instance. My friends are never "Aunt whoever" They are simply known to my children (well my son since Ella is still very young) as whatever their name is. I cringe inside when I hear somebody refer to someone as their "cousin" if they're really not cousins. My husband has done this and no longer does, because I cannot stand it. I can't even call my in-laws mom and dad, because they are not my mom and dad. This is one of my biggest pet peeves. I think even my husband is catching on to this, because the other day he was telling me how irritating it is to go to his cousin's myspace and see her label some of her "friends" as cousins. FINALLY! He understands where my crazy brain is coming from in some way.

Are you ready for my quirk to get even weirder? I have 4 sisters and 1 brother. Jessica is my sister through my mom. She is my best friend, the one I fight with, the one I call and cry to, the one I have a million inside jokes with, the one who knows every little secret of mine LITERALLY, she's my sister. Mitch is my brother through my mom. He's the one that even after screwing me over time and time again, flaking on me, doing the worst things possible like every little brother does, I still love him. He's still my baby brother. Even though they are my half, they feel like they are full siblings to me. Brittany, Alyssa & Tiona are through my dad. I didn't grow up with them. I am just now starting to be in their lives. They ARE my sisters, yet I feel odd calling them my sisters. I get that feeling that I was explaining above. Maybe it will just take time to get used to the fact that I actually do have other sisters than Jessica. At first I kinda freaked out a little bit, because none of them are Jessica and I didn't like the fact that they looked up to me as a "big sister" when in fact I didn't feel like I was their big sister at all. I am now faced with living away from the only brother and sister I ever knew and living by 2 of my dad's girls. I hope that in time I can become close to them. I have a more of a chance of having a good relationship with Alyssa, since she is 15. Tiona, however, is only 9. She's 2 1/2 years older than my son. He'll probably know her a lot better than I ever will. Brittany lives far away. I talk to her occasionally through text or myspace, and sadly, we'll probably never have a close relationship. I have such a twisted family, and I'm working on appreciating everybody in it. Close or not, I should work on having a relationship with everybody in it.... in some way or another. Right?