I don't think that blood is thicker than water at all. My brother and I were so lucky to have the parents we had and I am grateful for everything they've done for us which was more than parents usually do. Yet, my brother, from day 1, was unhappy and nasty on a daily basis to all of us. As if he was born like that.

Still, with the utmost diplomacy skills, my mother saved what could be saved. Then both my parents died and now it's just my brother and myself. He's a Buddhist monk and lives in various monasteries in Thailand and adjoining countries and we write each other an "I'm alive" email once a year. What else could we do?

My husband's family was so cold and self-centered, everything had to be done for show and for the neighbors. Then my mother in law died and ever since neither my husband nor myself have heard from his father again. His brother keeps in touch and write if he knows something. But they are not close either.

I think we have to take family members as they are and if we can live with them and be friends, fair enough, and if not we just have to go our separate ways.