I was adopted from a biological mother of 18 years and a biological father that refused to accept I was his offspring for months before he would sign the papers.

I stayed with some nuns for a couple of months and was eventually adopted by my dad and mother. I have a sister (not biological) who is 3 years older than me that was adopted as well.

When I was 5, my adopted mother died of cancer.

A little bit later, my dad remarried into a brady bunch type of situation - brother and sister the same age (3 years older than me) and me and a sister (same age as me).

My mom never treated me like she treated her own, but the bond between my older sister and my dad and me was as strong as it could be.

My dad died 6 years ago on his birthday from a massive stroke. That took a big toll on me. I still cry about it today. (I am shaking and tearing up as I write this).

So now it was just my older sister and I against my step mom and her kids. They all live in philly and md. See each other all the time.

My older sister left as soon as she could after graduating from college to move to austin. She married out there and a had a daughter who is the cutest, self confident little girl ever. She has recently moved to Norfolk, VA which ironically enough, was where I was born.

She sends pics of her family and sometimes in the background there are people. I joke and say that they are my biological mother.

On the "dark side", my step brother (unmarried and overall creepy older man) lives right near my step sister, who is a doctor, married to a doctor and has twins and a daughter. My step mom visits them all the time.

There is a riff between my step mother and myself, but I keep in touch with her out of respect for my dad. She is still friends with people that knew my dad and mom before she died and who have known me my whole life. I feel like she is leaching off his death (big checks for 26 years in the army - ended up full bird colonel - and executive director of a union health and safety fund)

I talk to my dad's best friend a lot. (every week during football season). He was in the band at notre dame. My dad's parents brought him up on ND football and he did the same with me. Every year, my dad's best friend and I guess now one of mine, gets me 2 tickets to an ND football game near where I live.

We remind each other of my dad and that is a strong bond.

I don't even know where I am going with this, so I will stop rambling.