... yesterday's "national sibling day" only served to remind me how difficult it is for me to represent my family in traditional formats (like the grid accompanying this post that is woefully inadequate for my situation).
You would think it would be simple, right? A sibling is "one or more individuals having one or more parents in common" ... and so you would think it would be relatively easy to locate a photo with those individuals in it. But that's where it started to get difficult. Beginning at where I ended, it *was* possible to find a picture (or a few) with the five children that my mother bore.
Before I got there, though, I had to consider the fact that my father had what I refer to as his WWII family, siblings of mine with whom I've not posed for a picture, seeing as how they were grown up and having kids of their own before I even came along. Discounting that period of time when I was so young that I couldn't remember, I interacted with one of those four pretty regular, met two of those four just once, and actually thought that the final member of that four had passed away until discovering on the Facebook that she was still alive. So ... no picture of me with those siblings for national sibling day.
Then there are those who belong to the temporary "siblings" category. By literal definition, they don't qualify, because zero of the biological parental units are shared ... but, courtesy of the quickie marriage with a limited shelf life, at least some time was spent with them (I had two brothers for a year when I was in kindergarten ... and two extra sisters [plus an actual not yet mentioned extra sibling with a shared parent] through junior high and high school). But ... no picture of me with those "siblings" for national sibling day either.
Ready for another wrinkle? I've also been lucky (and blessed) to have built my own "family" connections outside of the blood line, whom I consider to be a brother or sister in all but genealogical classification. When I was taken in by a family at the tail end of high school, I got an instant "surrogate sister". During my theatre internship out in western PA, I bonded with someone who became an older "brother" type and in college, I got a younger "brother" (title strengthened courtesy of a professional Greek organization tie-in as well).
It doesn't stop there ... because DJ made me an honorary "brother" in the Whitman family (instantly adding four more "siblings") and, later in life, there's the addition of my Indiana family, which adds a whole set of bonus entries competing for space on the old family tree ... and other potential expectations for those who might be considered a "sibling". Oh ... and I forgot that there are a few super-close friends who know me better than anyone yet referenced, and who maybe should slide into the "sibling" zone, all things considered.
Bottom line ... we're going to need a few more days to celebrate and/or a much looser definition of the family ties that bind. And maybe a different way to visualize the modern family than a straightforward tree, 'cause that just ain't workin'!
IN CASE YOU WERE CAUGHT OFF GUARD ABOUT THE 4.10 HOLIDAY:
http://www.ibtimes.com/happy-national-siblings-day-how-did-it-start-435698
EVEN THESE DON'T SEEM MODERN ENOUGH FOR ME AND MINE:
http://mom.me/home/3967-11-modern-family-trees/
ONE STEP FORWARD TO AT LEAST ADDRESS MULTIPLE MARRIAGES:
http://www.families.com/blog/how-to-include-step-parents-into-a-family-tree
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