Raina said:Growing up I felt so a part of my dad's family (even though he's technically my step dad, my bio dad got killed in 83 and I got adopted in 88). I always wondered though if my cousins thought of me as being not a part of them on some level since I got brought into the mix around age 5.
I fretted about it until I was 21. Then I finally asked a few of them (there are 23 of us). Half of them didn't even know/remember that I wasn't always there. The rest didn't care.
family is good. you have people who care about you.