Wow, what a cold family. Sounds a bit like mine. The family you're born into aren't necessarily the ones who love you most. It's a nice idea, but for many people, a positive relationship with family members is just a fantasy. My employer is more caring toward me than all of my family combined. Many times I think that my family may as well be dead for all the contact I have with them. Sure, we talk and get together occasionally, but our relationships are very shallow. I rarely hear from my brother. He talks to my parents but he doesn't bother to call me. I talk to my parents and get the news about my brother's family from them. I call my brother and almost always get the answering machine. They never return my calls or emails. But then they don't check their answering machine or emails on a regular basis anyway. Still, it would be nice if my brother would actually call me once in a blue moon.

So, no, your family is not weird, by my standards. What I find amazing is that your mother and her sister even tried to heal their relationship, let alone actually succeed. I find that to be more of an anomaly than your family's general behavior...

To answer your question, I suppose I would feel even lonelier if my family were gone than if we were merely estranged.