In the family way or the family in the way?

Ever wonder what it would be like to be in a different family? or have no family?
I'm lucky enough to come from a really large and very close family, aside from our New Zealand and American contingent we all live really close to each other, within 30 minutes drive.
Mostly this is great cause we get to see each other all the time but sometimes i wish i could move to a desert island and just pop home for Holidays.

There always seems to be one member of the family that's the organiser/fixer and in my family thats me, i'm the one people come to when things need to be done, or when theres an event to arrange, or you need something from someone else in the family. in short i'm Jim'll Fix it.

We all have our own specific roles within our unit, from the Spongers that rely on others, the Whiners that call you daily to have a moan, the needy oldies that want lifts here and there, but where would we be without them?
This year has been a really tough one for my family, we lost my Dad to cancer in the early part, my mum has had to have hip replacement surgery, my elderly aunt has been moved into a permanent nursing facility suffering with Dementia and more recently her husband (My dads eldest brother) has taken a tumble and broken his hip too, so i for one will be so glad to welcome 2012.

But the events of this past year have made me see my family in a very different light, i'm grateful that i'm not an only child for one, my sister drives me crazy a lot of the time but since losing our dad we have become very close, three of my cousins are "only" children and i really feel for them, if i hadn't had my sister around when our dad passed away i don't know how i would have coped.

So Basically i think, i'm lucky, lucky to have this crazy bunch of wackos around me, calling for lifts, and advice, and generally annoying the crap out of me because without them i'd be lost.