My family culture involves everyone in the family being close and involved with each other. It's not that we "get in each others' business," but we share our business with the family. Though, privacy is respected when it is wanted. We always say "I love you," a tradition pushed by my father's great grandfather. These aspects of my family's culture all come from my father's side. My mother's family used to be more strict, stoic, and private. Now, however, my mom, I think, liked my dad's family culture mare than her own and tried to adapt her new family unit (her kids) to it. In the process, my mom's side has become more like my dad's.
This culture of closeness became a bit of a problem when my mom's dad was contacted by the son he had had in his first marriage. The two reconnected after 50 years and he became apart our family (his mother had died some years ago). Uncle John was something to get used to; someone new that we had to become close to. He was not LDS and he had grown up in a different family culture. It was a challenge at first to let him into the family; we were so close, I'm sure he sometimes felt left out. But soon, he became a real family member. He comes to our events and is involved in our lives, we support him in his life. I think that was one of the ways we grew closer together: time. He has always wanted a loving family; he was an only child in a home with a lot of boyfriends coming and going and he is currently divorced with no children. I think he saw in our family culture something that was desirable and he adopted it.
No comments:
Post a Comment