I just realized what an exceptional situation I have, in terms of blood relations.
I am a 56 year old woman.
I have three maternal half sisters, all past menopause.
I do not have, living or dead, any:
Children
Nieces
Nephews
Aunts
Uncles
Or male relatives known to me outside my father and maternal grandfather.
All three of my sisters have other half sisters through their fathers, and therefore have all the relatives that I am lacking.
I feel pretty certain that I am extremely unusual in this, among people who are not adopted and don’t know their families. Just the fact that four sisters past menopause don’t have a single child among them is pretty unusual.
And that is a mundane, pointless thing I felt compelled to share.
I have no brothers or sisters or nieces or nephews. I have no living aunts or uncles. The only close relatives I have are cousins. Being an only child makes the close relatives kind of scanty and my mom had only one sibling. So I started out with only few of the relatives you mention and I don’t have any still living. So maybe I am also unusual? (Personally as I witness the family drama of my husband and friends I am pretty happy about my situation.)
My dad and his brother (therefore, my uncle) are still alive, and I have a brother. My dad is married, so I have a stepmother and stepsister (estranged from this side of the family). Uncle is married and has a stepson. I had an aunt (mother’s side), and her husband is still alive.
And that’s it; we could have the family reunion in the corner booth at Denny’s. Well, maybe some second cousins out there that I’ve never met.
I have no parents or grandparents (or great grandparents).
I have one unfriendly aunt (plus her side of the family, which is very large) that I have had no contact with for most of my adult life. I made contact with them several years ago and managed to wrangle a holiday dinner invite. I went, had a great time, saw and ‘re-met’ everyone, and then never heard from any of them again. So weird.
I have 5 siblings, only one of whom has procreated. He had one daughter. He divorced when that daughter was young and the mom and daughter moved on. I tried to keep in contact with them for many years- calling, visiting, sending cards, etc., but they never once returned the effort, so I quit. My brother has almost no contact with them either. His half-hearted attempts are usually met with complete silence.
I often wonder if there is something wrong with my tribe. We seem to be very ‘un-familial’ for a family.
My dad’s paternal side of the family is like that. An my great grandfather was an orphan , and he married and only child. They had 7 children but only four lived to adulthood. Three of those had children, (my dad who was born 6 weeks before his father perished in WWII, and two much younger cousins, one in early sixties, one in early 50s) My dad had my brother and I, my brother is having no children, and I have one son. (And am 45 and unlikely to reproduce again). The 60-something cousin has no children and the 50 something cousin has one son. (early teens. only a few years older than my son).
So seven people on that side of the family. The ones from my dad’s lineage… brother, me, my son… have heaps of relatives. (Paternal grandma is from a large family, as is my mother) The childless cousin has this seven. The youngest cousin has her son, and an aunt in Scotland, and the other five. She actually had my dad give her away at her wedding. We live several provinces away from each other, and always have, so we make an effort at being close.
I have a semi common last name, so I often get “oh are you related to…?” but no, I am not. The only relatives I have with my last name are my parents and brother.
You left out ‘cousins,’ but I inferred from this as not having aunts or uncles, you wouldn’t likely have first cousins at least. Yeah, I’d say that’s rather unusual.
My maternal grandmother was one of four sisters, the only one who had a child, and her only child is my mom. My maternal grandfather was an only child. So, my mom had no cousins, and at this point, her parents and aunts are dead. She is also divorced from my dad.
Now, she does have me, my sisters, and our children. But no family who will remember family history with her or anything like that.