Thursday, October 15, 2015

Family size LBC post

There's an old saying that says you can choose your friends, not your family. It is not completely accurate as my experience shows.

Most of uou know my last name is an adopted name as my mom remarried when I was about 8 years old. My birth father's last name was Brooke. My original birth certificate listed that as my name,  In Colorado when you are adopted a new birth certificate is issued and so my current birth certificate lists my last name as McConvey.

It was only a few years ago that I first saw a picture of Paul Wesley Brooke. All I knew about him was my grandmother hated him and my mother has lied to me about him for years, telling me he died in the seventies. So I started looking in to him a bit. Turns out he was not a particularly good man - apparently a corrupt cop who spnt a  fair amount of time in prison. And  upon checking with several Brooke family members - my family members in reality - they effectively told me to pound sand - two of my actual first cousins said to never contact them or anyone in the family again - to them I do not exist.  So in two families the supposed family size is somewhat inaccurate.

In the real world I was 9 when my, mom and my step dad (though I only refer to him as my dad)  had my sister. Shortly thereafter we packed up and moved to California. Once there two additional kids, both brothers although one died before he turned one. So I have a brother 11 years younger than me and a sister 10 years younger than me. My folks had a built-in babysitter. We lived in a nice neighborhood, with lots of kids and friendly families. In truth my extended family size was 20 or so. The bigger the better as far as I  am concerned,

I did my time as an only child back in Pueblo. Although I have nothing but fond memories of my  time in Colorado, I think the family dynamic in a bigger family is more interesting. There is always something going on.  And although in my case the age difference made a difference as  kids, my brother, sister and I are close and we have each others backs.

Size matters to me. I enjoy larger families regardless of skeletons in the closet - something most if not all families have. Or at least a black sheep or two.



That's my take on this weeks LBC topic. Time to see what the others have to say -

see ya next week, same bat time, same bat channel for another LBC mash up.

2 comments:

  1. Some of your story is known to me but in this I have learned somethings new as well. I have tackled the topic differently but I can agree with your point of view that the larger the family the better. My extended family will need to be counted and I am in touch with each one of them even if only sporadically, and share all good and bad news with them. With some cousins, I am in more frequent touch but with my siblings, nephews and nieces, I am in touch almost on a daily basis. Since I live with my son and his lovely bride, I am part of a small family already.

    I am glad that you will be with your son and be part of his enterprise. I wish both of you all the luck in your new enterprise.

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  2. You could write a book, Chuck. I'm serious. A catchy title, a more detailed version of what you have written here and…

    Wish you and your son great success in your new venture. Things can only get better from here.
    blessings ~ maxi

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