Mi Familia

I am 31 years old. On both sides of my family i am the oldest girl. On one side, i am the oldest grandchild. This comes with great fun and responsibility. My family is HUGE. My Mom has 12 brothers and sisters. Between them all, i have about 45 or so first cousins. My dad has 5 brothers and sisters. Between them, i have about 30 or so first cousins. With big families comes enough drama to sustain a week day soap opera for years......truly. Steeped with murder, adultery and extortion this is the kind of stuff that Danielle Steele dreams about.
One sibling is always mad at another sibling for something ranging from serious to trivial. Both families have a black sheep or two, but certainly at least one. Both families have mother issues and anger issues and father issues. It's amazing that any of them have sense enough to survive.
One side has college grads. The other side has high school grads and many, many out of wedlock children. Ironically enough though, both sides have very good relationships with the people in the communities in which they live. Not much bad blood for anyone, and most of the children stay out of trouble.
Our holidays were always eventful. Ranging from fights that must be broken up to laughing so hard your belly literally aches.
What it all boils down to though, is that my family is pretty awesome. I can think of way more good times than bad times, though being the grandchild, there is probably still more that i am completely unaware of. But we love each other. Even in the times when the siblings hate each other and won't talk for months, i know that if they were staring into a casket, they would feel badly and miss their brother or sister. How do i know this? They bother to express their feelings one to another. I read somewhere that the opposite of love is not hate, but indifference. I tend to agree with that. If you hate someone, you're still wasting an emotion on them. But if you don't care, truly do not care whether they exist or not, well that's a different kind of feeling.
My family is not yet indifferent about anyone. My father's anger with his mother says that he still cares. My mothers disdain of my father means that she still has a connection with him. I'm hoping the indifference never comes. That we will always love or hate one another.
After all. In all of its psychosis, they are still my family.