My special place

It's something the moderators try to prevent on threads @Catcakes. If something isn't appropriate to that thread they may ask you to move to another thread. Hence why I asked @Snowie a similar question & it's also up to her if she's bothered by our conversation. She'll possibly say no. No one really owns a thread technically. Anyway I don't want to make a big deal about it. It's just my part of my role as a Community Guide to be aware of these things.

So you're all fairly close in age then except for your oldest sibling?

Yep @Sans911,
My mum had five under 9 , same as me.
Thanks for explaining off topic 👍🏻

Thanks @Snowie, @Sans911.
I’m always happy for distraction too.
Just having a quiet night in, watching some Winter Olympics and drinking tea 🍵

Do you like to ski/snowboard @Snowie?

@Catcakes @Snowie

I don't see a lot of them very often, as they're scattered all over Australia & one cousin lives in Wales, UK. And I definitely can't keep up with many of the neices and nephews but my mother does. There's many I've never met. One sister who lives in Melbourne doesn't have any contact with me, and I'm quite ok with that. We never grew up together, so she doesn't consider me family!

My biological sister & brother I have a good relationship. My brother knows a lot about my MI, and flew down from Darwin urgently about a year or so ago when I was in hospital. He was very concerned. But he's very unwell for his age and I'm concerned I'll loose him early. He's 50 this year. He was born on Christmas day.

My foster family has 4 siblings, and I know them and their extended families. But I'm closest to my foster sister and her family. My foster mother lives in the same town. Her son lives with her and the other siblings live in towns not too far away. This family I started to visit from the age of 3. They were a holiday placement from the care home I was in. They were going to foster/adopt me at one point, but my foster father died when I was 7 & my foster mother had to work full time to support her family.

When I was aged 8 to 11, I had 3 mothers! That was a very interesting & challenging time trying to explain that! I was fostered by a family until their marriage broke down. I didn't want to live with the mother as I wanted to stay with the dad. But the welfare wouldn't allow it. So I was returned to the children's home that I was at before (and that's a reaaaaaaally long story for another day).

I hope I haven't made your heads spin! My background is very complex and long. I don't mind talking about some of it. I just don't want pity because it's my life. I had no say in it, and I've done ok despite some disadvantages.
.

Thanks for sharing @Sans911, it does sound complex but good that you have managed to keep some supportive relationships through it all. We have three adopted nephews and it has been interesting to see how they have all coped differently with their lives.