Families can be so wacky, but they’re what you get to grow up with. I mostly grew up on my own as an only child with just my parents around. When I was young I’d go back to China to visit my relatives, spending the summer with them. I don’t see my relatives often, but when I do we pick up right where we were the last time we met. I don’t need to stay in touch with them when I’m not around and I hear news through my parents if anything interesting has developed (marriages, children, and retirements). Ours is a typical Chinese family separated by a vast ocean – my nuclear family unit is used to doing things on our own. Sometimes I find myself meeting more distant relatives when I go to China and I start losing track of the connection. All that matters is that family will welcome you with open arms and support each other. It can be beautiful, it can get ugly, but the strong bonds make it great in its own way.