My Blended Family

People are always telling me that they need a road map to follow my family tree. I, of course, think it is fairly easy to navigate but then I have been doing it for 33 years. I have decided it is time to bust it down here.

My Mother, the woman who gave birth to me, was a lovely soul named Leone. She was born in Sydney Nova Scotia in 1940. She grew up... she met and married another lovely soul who we will call Uncle W. They lived in Montreal and had two children, my lovely, awesome brothers who we will refer to as MJ and DeeDee. Note: Here is my first set of siblings and the ONLY ones I know who are biologically related to me- Sadly for all this marriage did not last and while MJ and DeeDee were still very young Leone and Uncle W. divorced. Uncle W. went on to marry a woman who I adore whose name is frighteningly close to Leone's. She had Three children from a previous marriage, Gerry, Brian and Kim. Note:These are my brothers step-siblings but because of the nature of my family I consider these three people to be siblings.-

Leone, MJ and DeeDee moved to Nova Scotia where she took a job, as an RN,at the local nut house. There upon she my biological father. I want to call him ass face, but that is rude and I am grown-up so I will call him Jim. Jim and Leone hooked up. Leone had the misguided impression that she could save Jim despite the fact he was desperately, unalterably broken. One magic night , bing -boom, they made me. By the time nine months rolled by and I made my entrance on to the scene Jim and Leone's marriage had pretty much unraveled (shocking) and after months of bitter divorce and custody battle Jim and Leone divorced. Jim basically wandered into obscurity. When I met him 20 odd years later Jim told me that after Leone he was briefly married or lived with with a woman named Barbara who he left when she was pregnant (yeah what a charmer!) NOTE: I presume that she went ahead and had said child but I do not consider said child to be my sibling in any meaningful way.

Leone went on to marry Paul who she also met at the nut house, who was also desperately, unalterably broken. Paul had two children from a previous marriage, Sean and Kim. Note: I was raised believing Paul to be my biological father so naturally I counted Sean and Kim among my siblings and despite the fact that it was later learned that Paul was not my biological father and the fact that I have not seen them for more then twenty years i still count them in there.
Leone and Paul stayed unhappily married for 8ish years. Let's not mince words... they were not happy years. Their marriage ended when Leone died tragically at the age of 44 from breast cancer.
A few months after Leone passed away Paul's girlfriend moved in and some time later they married. I want to call her The Evil Bitch from Hell, but as I said earlier but that is rude and I am grown-up so I will just call her The
Evil Step-Mother. The Evil Step-Mother brought with her, along with all her other baggage, two Evil Step Sisters. Note: despite the fact that we lived under the same roof for several years and behaved as siblings I do not consider the Evil Step Sisters members of my family-.
On March the 8th 1988, at the age of thirteen I was taken into the care of Child Protection Services for reasons which we can talk about another day. I never went back.
I lived in a group home for most of my teen years. I lived with a LOT of girls over those years and while not siblings I consider most of them to be members of my family.
For a while I lived with some very kind and loving Foster Parents who tired very hard to make it work with me but I was in a bad place and it didn't work out. NOTE: They went on to have 4 children and have a very extensive extended family who have embraced me wholly and I consider them to be to be part of my extended family-.
In this time I also became best friends with Little Bits. Her family became mine, completely. Mother who I call Mom, Father who I call Dad, Brothers(3), Sisters(2), Step-Siblings (3), Aunts, Uncles, Cousins, Grandparents who I call Grammy and Grampy, the whole lot of them took me lock, stock and all. I love them with my whole being, they are my family in every way that means anything.
My family is big and complex. I have two brothers with the same name, two sisters with the same name, two sisters with the same birth date, many of them have never even met each other; however there is so much love there, so much kindness. It might sounds like I have had a tough time of it, but imagine how lucky and loved I feel tucked inside this big blended family.

Meghan

PS- Now I get to call Gil's family mine too! Don't even get me started there. :)