The More the Merrier

In the 1980s there was a popular German TV production that I loved to watch. Its title translates to "I'm marrying a family". It was about a patchwork family, which back then was a rather novel concept. I now find myself in exactly that scenario. I am an only child, Highflyer has 8 (!) older siblings. It took me a while to remember all their names and who lives where and has what profession. Well, most of them are my parents' generation and retired now, anyway. I don't have any children myself, he has a total of three.  I often get asked how this feels for me and if it isn't overwhelming. Well, apart from the fact that most of his siblings live in Tyrol and his sons don't live in Austria at all and I don't get to see either of them all that often, they have been a lovely addition to my own very small family and I have felt welcomed. I used joke that I'd love to be able to order children from a catalogue when they are already at that age where they can walk and articulate themselves and now it feels like I have actually got that. Well-behaved kids in small, manageable doses I can more than handle and well-meaning relatives who don't live "on the farm" are okay, too.