Here i am visiting my family in Toronto and i am finding something very odd. Most that i am seeing are people i have never met. Now i have a big big family ( we had a party with a 130 people and all of them were family. problem is the other 200 + was missing or couldnt make it.) so it is understandable that i am meeting more than i am used to.
However my immediate family, first cousins and aunts and uncles, werent even there. other than maybe ten people there, i knew no one. Here is the kicker though. Every one knew me. Not by name, mind you, every one knew me as my mothers daughter. I didnt even say my name for the first 3 hours, just  "Hi, I'm ------- 's daughter." and they knew me. and my family. And part of my lifes story, which was creepy, but thats just family gossip. Something happens to someone in vancouver and the distant relations in england and dubai will know by the end of the week. Is it just me or has the grapevine gone international?
But what gets to me is that people, that i had never met before, met me once then all of a sudden i have been a permanent structure in the family social scene for years.  I have leaned more about my family history from people that barely know me than i have from my immediate relatives, that i have seen on and off for years. very odd. To be accepted so quickly and easily is somthing i can barely fathom. But here i am, going from dinner to dinner, party to party, and never once felt unwelcome.
Yes i have wandered off from time to time for some quiet but that is mostly because, as lovable as they are, my family is LOUD.  However i always knew that if i just drifted back i would be in the thick of it again as if i never left.
It is a rare gift to have people so accepting. If you find something like that dont quander it. Learn as much as you can about people like that because you can be certain that they are the one that live the interesting and fulfilling lives. because they are the type to be willing to share thier lives with the rest of us.
Another piont of interest, If you already have a family like that. If you find a significant other that can survive a get togeather, never let them go. those are the keepers. If they can survive your family and say (truthfully) that they enjoyed themselves a bit, then they can more or less pull through anything life throws you.
Not to mention, if they arn't right for you, your family works as a kind of hazing routine. they usually know right away if you are meant to be. My grandnanee ( who just turned 90!!) can spot a bad apple from a mile away. No matter that she cant really see anymore.
Well those are my revelations on families that i have found within this last week. I am sure they will hit me with more befor they see me off at he airport. personally, i cant wait.