your statement implies a conflict-ladden connection with your parents. Family can also mean: safety net, love, time. My wife's family comes from a mid-sized town where grandmothers, aunts and cousins live in vicinity. This means houses where built without any loan from a bank and parents could go to work with their children being watched and cared for when they were sick. On Christmas eve family gathers at a large table and there is more food than anyone can eat. We are the only ones who live abroad and need to spend a good chunk of money to buy the services we would get from a family for free. Sometimes I think we should de-economize our lives.