Wow...I wasn't sure anyone else had these kinds of issues.

For me it's been lifelong, so I'm kind of used to it. It does feel a little strange when others talk about all their relatives and familial schenanigans and I'm just there like "Um...okay."

I'm the only child of a widow. Both my parents had siblings, whom they aren't on particularly good terms with and I've only met a handful of times. The last time I saw my first cousins I was a baby (they were in their teens, I think). 3 of my grandparents were dead before my parents even met, and the last one died in may of this year (we weren't close, so it really didn't matter to me). There are some great-aunts I know, but that's about it.

My mom used to call her and me "the world's smallest family". I never liked it, and I think that attitude is what morphed into her need for "family loyalty" and for us to present a "united front" and the fear that anyone who suggests her behavior negatively impacted me is "trying to turn me against her". Did I mention that side of the family is fairly dysfunctional?

So yeah, my mom and I don't get along. She has her own mental health issues that clashed hard enough with mine that living at home was becoming toxic, so I left. She insists she still needs to know where I am and what I'm doing, which stresses me out, but otherwise we want little to do with each other.

I basically have no family myself. They're either dead or estranged. The internet helps, though.