One Is the Loneliest Number

One is the loneliest number For a long time growing up, family was (to me) only those related by blood or marriage; believing family would help one another and always be open, honest, and nurturing. Although I still believe in my ideas of family, my family is no longer limited by a signed piece of paper or a DNA test. Before I tell you the people I still consider my family you must know that blood related I have: my mother, father, three siblings, and an extended family counting upwards of 200 people. At this moment in time, I only consider one person in this world to be family. In another person’s world and a different frame of mind, I would be looked at and have been told I am weird for considering that my girlfriend, Melanie, is the only family I have. This drastic change in mindset has taken place for about 5 years, having no family and including my girlfriend for the last year. When I went away to school, the only time I would talk to anyone from home was a minute long (if I was lucky) call from my dad about how school was going, just finding out I have a learning disability, and asking how I was on money. I thought at the time, that it wasn’t unusual and was just part of the whole independence thing that comes with going away to school, but boy was I wrong. When I left school no longer wishing to be where I was, nothing much had changed. I lived back with my parents and brother and was still treated as a leper and not talked to. The only communication I had with any of them was arguments in how I lived my life, asleep all day and out and about all night. It took me several months, but I lucked into my first job ever and that is when everything went to hell and back. As I said before, to me, family helps one another out and is open, honest, and nurturing and my “family” was none of the sort. Once I started my job my family started talking to me again: my mother yelling and screaming about what I was doing with my life imposing rule upon rule against me,