The true measure of family

My parents are divorced – I am not sure I even mentioned it – and both have been married to different people for many years now, so my sister and I are completely used to the blended family thing. From the age of 12 onwards, we lived with my mom, stepdad, stepsister and stepbrother (although we don’t use the “step” prefix), and now my sons call my mom and stepdad, grandma and grandpa. My dad lives with my stepmom, half-sister and another stepsister, and although they don’t live in the same country as us, my kids have come to know them as nanna and nanny.

My husband has 2 sisters, both living in another country, one of them is currently visiting Canada, so my sons are getting to know their aunt and cousins, which is nice because they rarely get to see one another. Today is their last day, so I told my 4 year old that we are going to the airport to see them off, he nodded in agreement and said “yes, I know”, then proceeded to inform me “daddy is going because it’s his family, and I am going because it’s mine and my brothers family too, but, ummm, mommy, that is not your family!”

I let him continue with his thoughts and asked who he thought was my family – “grandma and nanna” (my mom and dad), was his response. I started to explained to him that everyone was my family – grandma, grandpa, nanna, nanny, aunty sids, aunty lis, aunty sauda, aunty mooda, and uncle marlon – and he replied “Oh my god! wow! that’s huge! What kind of car did you have?”