Let me give a little background to help explain.
My father was married and adopted 4 children (adopted is only mentioned because it is a interesting phenomenon I will mention later). My father got divorced and remarried, and my sister and I were the surprise product of their marriage. Interesting, seeming they were not supposed to be able to have biological children. So there you have it. 4 children from one marriage, 2 from another, and don't forget 2 different wives added to the mix. Trying to mix all these kids and families has never been easy and actually has been downright difficult at times. We have had periods of being close and periods of not talking. But now, all as adults, things have evened out. We even went on a family vacation to the Outer Banks and all lived in a house for a week together, and all lived to tell about it!! Seriously, we all had a blast.
So, with this little background in mind, and our mixology of a family, the dinner table laid out as such.
Myself sitting next to my biological sister Diana. To her left, my half brother Jeff was badgering his mother Ms. A (my dad's first wife), who was sitting across from him. Next to Ms.A, was her boyfriend of many years Mr.J. My half sister Chelle was loudly talking, as she has such hearing loss in one ear, Chelle was sitting next to Jeff's boy who was concocting some science experiment at the table. Then my son and Chelle's boy were sitting at the table drawing Star Wars figures in their own little world. The thing about these two boys is they look so much a like, you show them pictures when they were young and they don't know who is who. Now, if there was a genetic relation it would be no big deal, but since Chelle is adopted with no blood relation, I don't know how these two look so much alike. A little digression there. Back to the seating chart. Jeff's wife Dom was sitting next to me, and my daughter and Chelle's daughter were behind us dancing. Every so often Chelle's husband, the owner of the restaurant we were having dinner at, came to check on everyone from time to time.
What a mix!!! Did I think I would be having dinner with my father's ex wife and boyfriend??? Nope, they probably thought the same, although Ms. A was worried how my mother would feel about that. But some things do not need to be shared. Mr. Chelle was worried that my sister and I would not get along with Ms. A, hence his constant checking I believe. Family loans, were discussed and Ms. A. was talking about phone conversations to my fathers sister in law, and Mr. J was interested in talking to my soft spoken son, but could not hear a word he was saying. Ms. A used to work for the FBI and according to Chelle, Ms. A was very politely interrogating my sister Diana about school and her husband. Jeff was glad one more sister did not show up so we could all have a "fun" time, and the oldest of my dad's kids had mooched all he could off his family and was back in Denver.
Despite all the family gossip, and dynamic interactions, we had a great time.
Maybe this "mixology" thing is not so bad. We all function within our own dysfunction.
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