Or are all families odd, or is it just mine?

[colapips]

I am part of a very large family - dad is one of 12, and I have (at the last count) 50 first cousins.

Now this weekend has been very sad - my dad's dad has passed away, and one of my dad's sister is 10,000 miles away from home has had a stroke.

I found this information out via cryptic FB status updates from my cousins, and asked one outright what was going on, and she said she thought I would of known and then explained.

I contacted my dad thinking he may not know - well he did know, but only 3 hours after the event because one sibling had emailed another, who forwarded on to another etc. I asked dad whether one of his other sister's knew as she doesn't have computer access, and he was like I don't know I haven't told her, doubt anyone else has .

Now on FB, the son of the woman who has had a stroke has put - yay 3hrs 40 mins I'm off to Thailand Any other family I would think I can't believe he doesn't know, but thinking about the above it is possible he doesn't and is still going off on holiday. Or they are all wrapped in themselves and he's going anyway.

I've just found it all very bizarre this weekend.

My Dad's one of 13 and they are mostly distant to each other. Not all families are like it but some really large ones are. Was he close to that sister?

Supposedly she was the favourite and they are the closest in age.

Sorry to hear about your Grandad and your Aunt, I hope you are ok.

It does sound bizzare, but there could be loads of explanations.

He doesn't know
He does know but is going anyway knowing there are other siblings around to care for his Mum
He knows that it was a minor stroke

A couple of my friends use fb alot for work contacts, and always have happy positive status updates, even when I know that they are having a hard time for some reason. Could it be something likr that.

Reminds me of Alan Bennett's great adage about families: "Every family has a secret, and the secret is that they are not like other families". Agree that the dynamic in large and dispersed families is often very different though.

His mum is stuck in a foreign hospital on her own, she was on a world tour. He has got a sister, and I know she knows. So it could be the two of them have agreed he should travel.

At least it just seems to be the way of large families.