Extended Dysfunctional Family

When you spend more time at work than what you do with your own family you begin to think of you co-workers as your family. You become close to one another. You love one another. Hate one another. Talk about one another. Defend one another. You share in each others joys: meeting new ppl, dating, engagements, weddings, having babies, birthdays, anniversaries. You also share in each others sorrow: sickness, worry over loved ones, family moving out and moving on, deaths of loved ones. The people you work with often know more about what is going on in your life than your actual family. They are quick to tell you they love you, need your help or tell you thank you. And they are also quick to tell you when you screwed up or when should keep your mouth shut and quick to offer their opinion whether you want it or not.

Webster's defines family as a basic social unit consisting of parents and their children, considered as a group, whether dwelling together or not. It defines extended family as a kinship group consisting of a family nucleus and various relatives, as grandparents, usually living in one household and functioning as a larger unit. And dysfunctional is defined socially impaired. Not sure I agree with the definition of dysfunctional as it relates to the family but we will go with it for the time being. So lets take the parts to make the whole of the term extended dysfunctional family. A basic social unit, not dwelling together consisting of a family nucleus, functioning as a larger unit which is socially impaired. Yeah, that works.

So what makes up the extended dysfunctional family. The "mother figure", someone that cooks for all the family meals, tends to all your needs and is good at letting you know when you are out of hand. The "kind and caring aunt", she keeps things together and softens the words of the mother figure when you get out of hand. The "big brother", always quick to crack a joke, get on your nerve and make fun of you in front of the rest of the family. The "big sister", she is the one that gives good advice and you try to follow her lead. The "fitness guru", the one that is always in shape, eats right, working out or playing sports that you only wish you could be half as good. The "twin", the one that you are most like that your other "family members" would swear you were switched at birth. The "weird little sister", probably bought from the gypsies because at times she is a little awkward and is a bit artsy. The "crazy aunt", you never know what is going to come out of her mouth, sometimes it doesn't make sense so you just smile and nod. And the "uncle that is a sports nut" so you just let him be in his recliner with his cooler of beer and stay out of the way when the Steelers are down. There are many other dynamic individuals that make up the extended dysfunctional family but there is no need to make the list go on forever. You get the picture.

I was going to ramble on some more about the parts of the "family" but I think most of  you get the picture. And I must say, I do love each person in my crazy extended family, even though we have our differences, we all know we have each others back when the time counts.