maleficent

You can't pick your family, you can pick your friends. Friends are those I choose to be with, people I have relationships with because I want to, not because we're related by blood.

My father's sister died a few months ago, I have a hard time calling her an aunt, because I rarely saw her, I went to the funeral, because I had to, and met a bunch of relatives for the firsts time. Next time I hope to see these people, is the next family funeral.

A family friend died last year. This woman I have known forever. She wasn't family by blood, she was family by choice. I went to her funeral to pay my respects because I wanted to go. I reconnected with a bunch of people who I knew forever, who also attended this funeral.

Reaction to a person's death has more to do with your relationship to them, than to the actual blood relation. I have a hard time mourning someone I really didn't know, and someone who didn't know me.

I honestly don't think your sibling's reactions are wrong or out of line. Just because people are blood, doesn't mean that you have to love them and miss them when they are gone.

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