Brady Bunch Family

When divorce and remarriages happen, it can get somewhat confusing. Im talking about my "Brady Bunch" family. Let's start with my mom, she was married three times. She first married a man that she met in India (on a student exchange trip.) He used to her to get a green card, they got pregnant, and then he was out of the picture. My mom had my older sister, Shireen. My mom then met a very kind man, much her elder, whom she married. He is a kind and gentle man, but it did not work our in the end. He is the dad that Shireen loves, knows, and calls her dad. He always loved her, and has always supported her. His name is Norman. After my mom and Norman's divorce, she eventually met my dad. They had me. On my birth certificate, was both Norman's last name, and my dad's last name, as my parents were not yet married. Eventually, they married. They came to the Catholic Church a few years later. Then, "out of that good ol' Catholic loving, came my brother J.D. Then quickly proceeded by my sister, Emily. My mom was diagnosed with cancer in July 1990, and died March 5, 1991. I was 12. Eventually, my dad remarried a woman who had two sons from a previous marriage. So, I am TECHNICALLY number three of six children, though I am the oldest of my full-blood brother and sister, and spent most of my life in that role. I write all of this why? Norman, my sister's dad (not her biological dad) is currently battling cancer, and probably facing the end of his life. And it is strange. I just wrote him a letter thanking him for loving Shireen, and supporting her. And I will grieve his death as a loved one. One who is not actually blood, yet one whom my beloved mother cherished once upon a time. One whose name I bore at my birth. And a good man who loved his family. What a strange web has been weaved. But, one that makes me uniquely me. I pray for families.