Self and Family

I think I have a very interesting family.   My American mother met my Chilean father in Chile when her parents were missionaries there in the early to mid '50s.   They were married and my oldest brother was born in Chile.   My second brother was born in the U.S. and then myself and my third brother and two sisters were born in Brazil where my parents were missionaries for 40 years.   So we are a very multicultural family.   We spoke English at home, Portuguese outside of the home and Spanish with our Chilean relatives, so we are tri-lingual.   Growing up we attended Brazilian and American schools   We were a close knit family and especially we four older children who were so close in age (my mother had 4 kids in 4 years!), and so had all the same friends we hung out with.  We are still very close even though we now live each in a different state here in the U.S.   My father and both sets of grandparents have passed away.    However, when we were growing up, my father brought his family to live near us in Brazil, so I had my Chilean grandparents and uncles close.    Except for times when we visited the U.S. for extended periods and I stayed with my maternal grandmother, we never lived near my maternal grandparents.   However, my grandmother wrote constantly and sent us little gifts and we always felt very close to her.   I loved her very much.

I still have aunts, uncles, cousins, nieces and nephews in Brazil, Argentina and Chile.   One of my dad's brothers married a German lady but they live in Brazil (she speaks 5 or 6 languages).   At one time they lived in Sweden, so I literally had family in 5 countries!  I'm not in touch with them as much as I would like to, but hope to change that soon.   Of course with Facebook, etc.. that is easier nowadays.

I consider my family relationships my most important relationships.   My sisters and my mother are definitely my best friends.   I keep "dreaming" of a time when we will all live near each other again and can meet for lunch or go shopping together, but for now we all live very far apart.   However, I do have my children now who are 15 1/2 yr old triplets and I feel that I have a good relationship with them.

I know families who all live within minutes of each other and get together all the time and I often wish my family could do that.   But, then I wonder, would we get on each other's nerves?   Would we get bored?   As it is, we all live in different places and get to share that "culture" with each other-San Francisco, Denver, Dallas, Baton Rouge, Atlanta and Orlando!

My parents struggled alot financially especially when we children were very little because they were independent missionaries and not sponsored by an organization who sent them financial support regularly (that came later).   So, looking back, we were probably what would be considered "poor", but we children didn't know it.   We were loved and safe and we never went hungry.   We had a home and decent clothes and in many instances were better off than our Brazililan friends, so we felt rich!  My parents did their best to give us a happy childhood and we only have good memories of those times.

I understand that many parents sacrifice alot to provide for their children, even to the point of often going without food so their children will have something to eat.