You'll never find a family that is identical to another. It's simply not possible. My family blows my mind sometimes - the dynamic is not one I've ever found anything similar to, and I couldn't be more proud.
What is family?
Family is a hard thing to define. Everyone might have a different idea of what the word means based on their own experiences. There are countless stories about the importance of family, be it a biological family or a family of those looking for a makeshift family to replace what they didn't have. When I think of family I think of a big group of goofballs that couldn't be more different from each other yet fit together perfectly at the same time.
Who is my family to me, and what do they mean to me?
One thing I've observed over many years is that my family is like no other. The main difference I've noticed is the dynamic of the family. This isn't meant to say my family is better or worse than anyone else's, but they would have to search far and wide to find anything that compares to this clan.
Growing up, and to this day, every second Sunday the whole family gathers and my grandparents' house for the evening. In the summer it usually consists of a pool full of the grandkids and possibly a few uncles, story-telling about work shenanigans or boating adventures, and a barbecue run by grandad while everyone simply enjoys the warm weather and company. In the winter the dinners are lead with trivia questions read out by yours truly, usually resulted in a deafening cacophony of guesses and segues into a fire-fighting anecdote or a childhood story.
Whenever I would tell any friends or colleagues about these dinners, they remark about how lovely it sounds and how close we all must be, and it didn't strike me until only a year ago that these bi-weekly dinners were not something that every family partakes in. It amazed me that very few of my friends had heard of the game Sardines before and didn't relate to my story of being suffocated by an uncle's turkey fart while we all piled into the coat closet waiting for the last person to clue in to where we had disappeared to.
This revelation lead to a lot of thinking on my part (#surprise_surprise). At Sunday dinners following the realisation, I would sit back while one of my uncles gives an animated account of another adventure and think about what it must be like for a family that doesn't gather in their nan's kitchen every two weeks. A family that doesn't race for the last spot at the table that would not be beside Tom or Joe who deliberately try to take up as much space as possible (being 6'4'', this makes eating your dinner a painstaking challenge). A family that doesn't playfully whip each other with towels while nan tries to protect the chocolate pudding from grandad's grasp. A family that doesn't end up howling in laughter when one of the grandkids makes a hilariously adult-like statement. A family that doesn't constantly question how on earth Grandad knows the answers to so many trivia questions. It alludes me that anyone could survive without it.
When I left for university, among other things, one of my biggest worries was that I would miss out on a goofy story or that the trivia tradition would get lost. I felt like I wouldn't be complete without those dinners in my life, and it also felt (to me, at least) that those dinners wouldn't feel complete without all of us there. Thankfully, being only an hour from home means I can still enjoy the never-ending goofiness of my family on those Sundays.
I can't put into words what my family means to me. I pride my family on the fact that I can't possibly think of anything or anyone that could replace them. My friends jump at the chance to join me for one of the infamous Sunday Dinners. My friends call my parents Mum and Dad, my grandparents Nan and Grandad. I love telling the stories that have people gasping in amazement that such a thing ever could have actually happened. The idea that people outside of my family look upon us and our stories with wonder makes my heart swell. A common remark within my family is that "you couldn't make this stuff up if you tried," and for some unexplainable reason that makes me proud beyond belief.
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