Imagine you, and your significant other and your kids (if you have them), get to live in whatever the most amazing house is that you can possibly imagine. It’s whatever style you want. If you like midcentury modern, it’s midcentury modern. If you like Victorian, it’s Victorian. If you always wanted a pool, tennis court, hot tub, five car garage, whatever, it has them. It’s as big as you want it to be. It’s in whatever location you want it to be. You get to live there for free.
The only catch is, any and all close relations that you have, have to live in the house WITH you. By close relations I mean: your parents, if they’re still around; any and all of your siblings, if you have them; and all of your siblings’ children (if they have them.) If you don’t have siblings and you don’t have living parents, then all of your aunts and uncles, and their children.
They will have separate residence suites within the building, and their own bathrooms, but everyone MUST share the same kitchen. It can be the most amazing, spacious, and well-equipped kitchen that your imagination can conjure up, but everyone has to share it. I put in this stipulation because it means that you will HAVE to actually cross paths with your family in the house - there’s no getting out of that in this hypothetical!!
The house can come with a butler and a housekeeping staff, if you so desire - and you don’t have to pay for them, either.
I’m down with that, it’s the menagerie that each household brings that might cause strife. My sisters big dumb ill mannered dog would aggravate me. My sneaky cats would bug her.
I would have no problem at all sharing a kitchen with my extended family so sign me up with no hesitation, but to poke the question a little, is there anything stopping someone just eating takeout every day? Even with the increased food cost, the savings on rent would be immense and they still don’t need to see their family members.
Yeah, if you want takeout all the time, there’s nothing stopping you. More to the point, if you want to try to avoid seeing the rest of your family whenever possible, there’s nothing actually stopping you from that either. You can hide from them as little or as much as you want. But there will still be common areas of the home, such as the yard, the garage, etc, where you will inevitably see them.
My parents and all aunts/uncles are dead and I am an only child, so without examining my family tree much, this is a no-brainer. Looking more closely:
I do have a bunch of cousins, some of whom I don’t know but all the ones I know are cool. If I only have to include the ones I know, then no problem. I’d hesitate to include the ones I’ve never met.
I’m adopted and have about a zillion half-brothers and sisters from my birth parents, who I did not know while I was growing up and most of whom I have never met / have little to no contact with as an adult. They aren’t my legal relatives but they are my biological relatives. If I have to include all of them, no way! I do have one half sister who I know pretty well - she and her husband would be welcome.
So I guess my short answer is, “it’s complicated.”
I’d take this in an instant. The only sticking point would be geographic location. My sister is a complete country mouse. My other sister and I are dedicated city mice. Could the house be like a Tardis, with doors simultaneously to the country and the city?
Never. Not ever. Under no circumstances. I don’t need to see the house, know it’s price tag or ‘get’ how cool it is!
I value my mental health above almost everything, so, a great big NOPE all the way around for me.
I can’t do anything to change my family, but I can stay out of range, and love them from afar. This life tactic has be essential to my continued good life, in my opinion.
Um, hm! I’d think about it, but only if I get exclusive access and use of the pool at the house I want, and the back porch/patio area leading to it so that I can go skinny dipping all I want. They can have the hot tub/jacuzzi all to themselves, I won’t use it. But that’s just to get me to consider the offer.
Sure, I’d take the deal. I don’t really like or talk to my sister but I get along with everyone else. Heck, one of my BILs has been a friend of mine for close to 25 years. My dream home is plenty large enough and far enough away from everyone else it would be easy to get away from them.
Oh totes. The most awesome house I can imagine, and I share it with my brother and sister-in-law? Sounds great, sign us up. I wonder what we’ll watch first in our fancy in-home theater.
