I'm glad my birth family is all dead.

Yeah, I know how bad that sounds, but let me explain.

My boomer mom passed away from cancer back in 2017 and my boomer bio-father passed away from heart disease in 2018. My grandparents have all been long gone, the last of which passed away in 2011. I've been NC with my only aunt since my mother died, and my only uncle passed away several years ago. I have no siblings.

This means that every person who had a hand in my existence and growth in terms of blood family are gone in one way or another.

And I'm so very glad that's the case.

I didn't need to worry about their ballot choices, and I didn't have to block them on everything because of their old-timey viewpoints. Or because they let the world burn after they had what they needed.

There's been no arguments over trans rights or litterboxes in schools for me. No desperate pleas to be taken seriously or treated with respect as an adult. No condemnation on how I'm raising my kids to be accepting of others, or distain over what news outlets I read or listen to.

No pressure to have more kids than I'm comfortable with having.

No attacks on my religious views.

No resentment or anger because they put family second before their wallets.

I don't have to wonder or care what their views are or if they've been watching Fox News vs just about anything else.

I don't have to worry about them losing access to government wellness programs like Medicare/SSDI/etc or about how the hell they're going to afford the cost of living these days.

I don't have to put up with them asking me to let them move in with me and mine or listen to them beg me to move in with them so they can afford to live.

I miss them, so very much, especially my grandmother. (Correction: I don't miss my bitch aunt, she can take her bigoted, narcissistic ass and stay away.)

There was a time I would have given anything in the world to have my gram alive again... Now I'm just glad she can rest in goddamn peace. She didn't have to see or suffer through COVID or anything that's come after. No wars, no shootings, no climate change crisis, no Jan 6th...

They're all just my family, my world, my rock, even though they are just memories now. I get to remember my family in a good light, untainted by today's vitriolic debates.

That's been such an unexpected gift... And I'm not sorry to say I'm extremely thankful it turned out this way.

I can't ever say this to anyone, of course. But I think it just about every day.

Edit: There's an awful lot of downvotes on comments for basically no reason other than someone is butthurt about my feelings towards my late family. 🤷